Carly the Stylist

So I'm driving home from work and Natalie calls me on my cell. "I just wanted to warn you ahead of time that Carly cut her hair." Okay, so do I prepare punishment or laugh? I laughed. I sure played barbershop when I was a kid; on myself, my siblings, and any other kid who ventured my way. Still, I had to put on my Mommy face so that Carly understood it wasn't okay.

When I saw Carly, my first thought was that she didn't do such a bad job on her first home cut. Mine was down to the scalp in places. Carly had given herself chunky bangs with graduated sides. I explained to her that her safety scissors were only for cutting paper and not hair. She apologized and promised never to cut her own hair again. Then I began the frantic calls to any beauty salon who had an opening that night.

We made our way to Toni & Guy where Carly was thrilled to get a big girl haircut. She was so excited to wear the cape and to lean her head back into the shampoo bowl just like all the other ladies. She sat very still in the chair and followed all of the stylist's instructions. Because this was her very first haircut ever, she needed quite a lot trimmed off as well as what was needed to blend her handiwork. When all was said and done, she had a shoulder length bob with short bangs. Quite cute while it was straight, and turned into a fluffy wedge when the natural curls came back.

Now we'll just wait for it to grow back and we'll always have a first haircut story to tell.

A long overdue update....

Okay okay, so I am the biggest slacker mom on the planet. This blog is, I'm embarrassed to say, almost a year overdue. Carly has changed so much since my last entry, so much that I could write a book here but I'll try to keep it focused on the highlights.

January

Carly started going to a new Montessori school and she is very happy there. The staff is great, she loves them and they love her. This month, she is Nemo, I am Dory and Sean is Marlin.

March

Carly went to her first Easter egg hunt at Firewheel Center. She had a ball collecting all the eggs she could find. Her love of reading is really kicking in, and she's sounding out words and recognizes some by sight. Still Nemo.

May

Carly turned three years old! We surprised her with her very own pink big girl bed and she was totally psyched. We took her to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe, then to Build-a-Bear where she created a rocker panda named Kaylee. Her big birthday surprise was a play called "If You Give a Pig a Party." She absolutely loved it and can't get enough of the theater. Later in the month we had her birthday party at The Little Gym. She and her friends had a really great time running around like little monkeys. Yep, still Nemo.

June

Carly started swimming again when the community pool opened. She was a bit tentative at first because she hadn't been swimming in over nine months. Within a week our little mermaid was the princess of the pool. By the end of the summer she was doing the crawl and the backstroke like a pro, thanks in part to the influence of the US Olympic Swim Team. Nemo, Nemo, Nemo.

July

Carly saw her very first fireworks display for Independence Day. We laid out our blanket and watched the fireworks for about a half hour. She thought they were really cool. We also had a great visit from Grandpa. He took her to Toys R Us where he bought her her very own drivable pink Jeep Wrangler for her birthday present. Carly loves cruising the neighborhood listening to tunes on the radio. We saw Wall-E, loved it, and now she is Wall-E and I am Eve. Carly is reading everything she can and can count indefinitely.

August

Carly counted down the days until her Aunt Kathy came to visit. She was so excited when that day came! We went to see Wall-E (for the seventh time) so Aunt Kathy would know all about Carly's favorite movie. Guess who she is? Wrong! We revisited the Meet the Robinson's DVD and Carly is now Goob big time. I am Mildred because Mildred takes care of Goob. Sean is Tiny the T-Rex, and Natalie is Carl the Robot. Carly is so into being Goob, that she writes that name on all of her schoolwork.

September

It's to the theater again for Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Our actress is now to be addressed as Lilly, and Sean and I are Daddy and Mommy Mouse. This kid just has to be on stage! We even went shopping for the perfect purple plastic purse. That obsession quickly changed when Carly latched on to being Bolt, and is so excited for the movie to come out in November. I am now Penny because Bolt is Penny's hero and they are best of friends. Sean is the hamster Rhino, and Nat is the cat Mittens.

This month also marked Carly's first experience of loss. We had to say goodbye to our dear cats Buster and Cricket, after 15 years of loving them. Carly misses them very much and has cried every night this week. She knows they aren't coming back but is comforted by remembering them and knowing how much they loved her too.

Carly is growing up right before our eyes. She seems to change by the hour and gets more and more amazing each time I blink. She is definitely her own person; independent and willful but still sensitive and kind. I do so love her.

More to come.

The paparazzi are on the prowl again and they've caught sight of a stylish Carly Mitchell making her way through a residential neighborhood. She wasn't answering questions today and preferred, it seemed, to quietly snack on a granola bar. She was still pleasant to photographers asking for a smile or a picture, though she wasn't revealing any information on her future whereabouts or her new found love (of bread sticks).

Carly remains stunningly photogenic even in candids. And she stays out of trouble, keeping the paparazzi guessing at how she does it!

Change, Change


After a year at her last school, Carly just switched to a new school that we feel is more equipped to facilitate her growth and development. This was a tough choice because she was used to the routine at her last school and, of course, the staff there really knew her and loved her. But she was bored there, and the staff turnover there was ridiculous (although it had somewhat stabilized the last month...the last month!) Her teacher, before she left for another job, told us that there was nothing more in the curriculum that she could teach Carly because Carly was already far beyond the class level. We tried to work out a progressive approach that would allow the teachers to teach Carly the three-year-old curriculum while in the two-year-old class because they wouldn't let her move up. But after her teacher left it seems all was forgotten. We finally had enough about a month and a half ago when Carly mentioned that she didn't want to go to school. We decided to move her to a different school and were really excited about the one we chose.

Of course it helps that Carly REALLY enjoys her new school, new school activities and new teacher. She also has a few old friends there from her last school. So far, we are impressed and we think that Carly will do very well there.

Take a bow....


For a while now, Carly has been quite dramatic. She likes to reenact scenes from her favorite cartoons (educational of course), all in voice and in complete character. For example:

Backyardigans-In a 1940s whodunit type setting, hippo Lady Tasha is robbed during a thunderstorm. Carly stands up, and in a breathy exasperated voice says, "My jewels! My jewels are gone!", puts her hand on her forehead and swoons to the floor.

Finding Nemo-The kid fish have just discovered that one of Nemo's fins is smaller than the other and the little pink squid is relating to his plight. Carly says,"See this tentacle? It's actually shorter than all my other tentacles. But you can't really tell. Especially when I twirl them like this," and then swings her arms back and forth.

About six weeks ago we took a family trip to San Diego. While we were there we visited Sea World thinking that Carly would be in awe of the sea creatures. At the end of the day I asked her what her favorite thing was, expecting her answer to be dolphins, sting rays, whales or sea lions. Instead she said, "Oh, my favorite part was the mime!", referring to the clown pictured, who was featured in the sea lion and otter show. "A mime is a kind of clown who doesn't talk," she continued, "He uses his body and expressions to perform." A perfect recitation of my earlier explanation of a mime.

Tonight, after her bath, Carly asked, "Mommy, will you please sit on the bed? I'm going to start the mime show." Then she walked into the bathroom and closed the double doors behind her. "Let the mime show begin!" she said and threw the doors open. Our funny little actress began to pull an imaginary rope, use an imaginary mop, and to tap dance all in true mime style. And the show didn't stop there.

Every night before bedtime Carly chooses the book that we read together. One of her favorites since a very young age is called The Milestones Project. It is a documentary-style book that focuses on the important stages of childhood. She loves the pictures of all the children and knows exactly who is doing what in each of them. Tonight she said she wanted to choose a book about a mime. "Pumpkin, we don't have a book about a mime." "Let me just look. Oh, here's one! It's called The Mimestones Project," she said, and pulled out the aforementioned book. Then she sat down on Big Bunny (her reading pillow shaped like a rabbit) and pointed out all the things the children cum mimes were doing. "See, this mime is riding a bicycle. This mime is getting a haircut. This is a brother and sister mime. This mime is going to the dentist and these mimes have pets." When she was finished with The Mimestones Project she put it back in its place, mime-walked around her room, and flashed a big goofy mime smile.

Encore, encore Carly! Daddy and I are your biggest fans.

Who, what, when, where, why, how?

Last night I was holding Carly in the rocking chair, slowly rocking her and stroking her soft brown curls as she rested her head on my shoulder with her arms wrapped around my neck. She was quiet and peaceful, and I thought she was drifting off to sleep. Hah! She was just giving her fantastic brain a few minutes to work its wonders before lifting up her little head, looking me straight in the eyes and saying with absolute pointedness, "Mommy, I am going to ask you some questions." And she did.

"Why do butterflies flutter?" "Why do worms crawl?" "How did Dumbo fly?" "Why does a cat purr?" "Why doesn't the special statue have a face?" "Why do my footies have a zipper and not buttons?" "How does the sun make flowers grow?" All of these questions she had gathered from looking around at things in her bedroom. I tried to answer them with the best and most accurate explanations I could. And those, I would soon discover, were the easy ones.

"What makes the wind?" "Why is it dark at night?" Check. Check. Both scientifically answered. Then came the big ones that I thought I wouldn't hear for years to come. "Why did the men hurt Jesus?" Then the whopper, "WHO IS GOD? We go to church and talk to God and sing Gospel music, but who is he?" Whoa. Talk about blowing my mind. My sweet, innocent, barely in this world two-and-a-half-year-old daughter wanted to know about Jesus and God. While this is certainly not my area of expertise and I felt mildly panicked, I answered her questions gently yet honestly. Something like this, "Honey, the men didn't believe the same things that Jesus believed, and wanted to stop him from telling other people about God. They hurt him because they thought that would stop him from loving God, but it didn't." She was listening so intently, soaking it all in and I knew I had to go on.

I tried my best to explain God, all the while wondering how long it took men and women of the cloth to perfect their own answer to this very question. My answer may not have been perfect, but I hope Carly will take my words and add to them her own experiences, emotions and beliefs as she moves through her life.

I'm so proud of Carly for everything she is and I cherish her inquisitive nature. It is wonderful that she just wants to know. Never stop questioning Pumpkin. Never.

Twinkle treat....

Last night was Carly's third Halloween. Her first at five months old, she was dressed in the requisite pumpkin footie costume with a little pumpkin cap. Last year she was mini-Cinderella, her obsession at the time, and she experienced her first trick-or-treat outing at the Florida Mall in Orlando. Last night she was a woodland fairy, complete with sparkly wings and curly-toed shoes. Sean had bought said costume at the Disney Store last year and it had since hung in Carly's closet as out of sight as possible. About a month ago I pulled it to the forefront so Carly could see it and get excited about being able to actually wear it. Boy was she excited. I could feel her getting giddy as she pulled the twinkly blue dress over her head, strapped on the curly-toed shoes, and positioned the flowery headband. Then came the moment she had been waiting for. The fairy wings. As she started to twirl around the room in a magic fairy dance, I thought I would just burst. My sweet little girl was the most lovely little woodland fairy I had ever seen.

So off we went down the sidewalk of our new neighborhood to meet a friend from Carly's class. The two of them had a blast walking from house to house, Carly so proudly announcing "Trick or treat!" as she had practiced all that afternoon. Of course with her being as irresistably cute and friendly as she is, everyone was more than generous with their treats. An hour and one bursting bag later, we headed home. We had a few groups of children at our door, and Carly delighted in doling out handfuls of candy. "Here you go. Happy Halloween everyone!"