Skills

Parenting skills that is. Being that I have now been a parent for 7 and one half months, I would like to share some of my pearls of wisdom that I have gained along the way.

Skill #1: Be sure to underestimate the reach of your child as well as their determination to obtain things they should not have.

Recently, I left Alex playing on the bed while took a few personal moments to get ready for the day. Before leaving I noticed a pen was sitting on the bed. It was well out of Alex's reach and with her current motor skills she would need to fall over and inch forward on her stomach in order to reach it, which process I could see from the bathroom. Considering all the other toys and equally intriguing items that were in her reach, I decided that the pen was safely out of harms way and decided to leave it. Good decision.

As I was getting ready, there were delightful little squeals and similar happy noises coming from the next room and not once did I see her move from her original spot. Never suspecting she had actually reached the forbidden ink pen, I thought she was busily playing with her toys, while in fact she was actually drawing happily all over her face and hands. I came back into the room to find a very slobbery pen and a baby with a mustache. I still can't figure out how she got the pen. The laws of physics contradict the entire incident. However, I am currently very thankful that both Lance and I are cheap, and have never owned a pen that actually works. Three dozen pens: 10 cents. Infant damage control: priceless.

I must apologize for these pictures. You can't see the ink very well around her lips and nose. This is because these pictures were taken after her bath were I was halfway through washing the evidence off when I decided that it might not be so bad to remember this event after all.

Skill #2: Hairstyling

Alex's mohawk is now too long to retain much curl with our velcro rollers and too short to wrap multiple times around a sponge roller. If left straight down it hangs very sadly in her eyes, and if combed to the side she resembles an old man with a comb over (a very cute old man, but still). Solution, the ponytail. Here are the efforts of my first attempt to wrap an elastic band, which I recently discovered to be much much to large, 31 times around my daughter's 3 hairs.

This is a slightly more triumphant second attempt utilizing the beauty of distraction and a slightly less wiggly horizontal position.

Next we have pigtails and then bangs. Oh the possibilities.

We are certainly making progress, but we are still trying to deal with the aftermath.