Locks of Love

A couple of years ago we decided to cut Elise's long locks. It was so long I realized that we could do locks of love, but that would mean that her hair would end up very short. I asked her what she wanted to do and she was totally up for it! So my friend Joy came over and helped me chop off the little lady's hair. She was left with an absolutely adorable hair cut. But more than being excited about the haircut, she was excited that she could donate her hair to a little girl in need of a wig. A few weeks later she received a post card from locks of love in the mail thanking her. She has kept it ever since.

Fast forward 2 years and once again our girly's hair had grown so long - almost to her waist. Again she really wanted a haircut and decided to do locks of love again. Again this meant a super short cut, but I love how she was totally game! She has not once made a comment about missing her hair or not liking it so short. But she has talked about doing locks of love. I love that she is so excited to be able to do something like that. I also love her adventurous side that is up for making such a drastic change without even an afterthought. She is a special little lady!

The Storyteller

For the past several months Elise has been very into being told stories. While she has been a book worm since she was a baby, now she would most often prefer to have you tell her a story. We've had all sorts of sagas and series, such as the the many tales of Princess Sally and her horse Neigh (these are Harrang originals), or of the Princesses Ariel, Cinderella and friends, or of Curious George. Let me tell you, our creativity is often running quite dry after making up literally dozens and dozens of stories to entertain her! Fortunately, Elise has a lot of creativity and often adds her own ideas to the stories, easing the pressure for us a little. For weeks we would encourage her to tell the story, since often she would be the one to tell us all of the details of the story before we even began. She always resisted, saying she didn't know how. Well in the past week or two that has changed, and a new storyteller has emerged in the form of our Elise. She loves telling us stories, and although I am slightly biased, I think she is quite good at it! A few days ago she started to tell me a story about several Annas. There was Anna-two-ya, Anna three-ya, Anna-four-ya...and then she paused. I think adding on the "ya" to the numbers was getting her a bit confused. So she started over - there was OneAnna, TwoAnna, ThreeAnna, FourAnna, and FiveAnna. I don't remember the rest of the story, but that part was so cute! Her new thing is telling stories with a mean king and a mean queen. I don't know quite where this came from, but now she has been asking me when she sees a person, "Mama, is that a mean person or a nice person?" (Oh, I just remembered where this all has come from! It is Halloween season and in all of the stores we go to the deocrations are everywhere. I personally think that some of the stuff is too scary! And so Elise has aksed me when she sees big witches or monsters growling and making scary noises, "Mama, are they mean?". I suppose it has translated over to her wondering that question about everyone! Blogging is so helpful for remembering stuff!). So we have a new storyteller in the house. Next time you see her, be sure to ask her if she can tell you a story! (oringinal post 11-18-08)