P is for Ponytail

As every mama of a little girl probably knows, one of the best parts to having a little princess of your very own is dressing her up and doing her hair! Well we had a major set back in the cute girly dos department when last winter (2008) the little one began pulling out her hair on the top sides. Unattractive and very noticeable nearly baldish spot were the result and as you can imagine I was very upset about it.

It didn't help that everyone including complete strangers felt the need to comment on it, and they weren't always nice caring inquiries and some were quite rude. Can't tell you how many times I was told, that I should tell her to stop. Um yeah, don't you think I tried that! Plus from all the online research I did and from my conversations with her pediatrician what we were supposed to do was ignore for the most part and not discuss or bring too much attention to it. Hard to do when people in the grocery store ask you about it.

It had started to grow back a little in this picture from last spring but you can see the slight mohawk look she was rocking for awhile. Mind you, I am perfectly aware that this is not the end of the world and there are a lot worse things that can happen to your daughter and I told myself that over and over again. I was still upset.

We did figure out that she did it only in her crib on her way to sleep, as a calming type thing. She'd pull and twist and the baby fine hairs didn't have a chance. We wore a lot of hats that spring and summer, mainly to keep her little head from getting sun burn but mercifully they also meant that there were less comments about the whole thing too.

This past fall and winter she has gotten really into princesses and I mean really into princesses. She tells me she's not my baby anymore, she's my princess. I'm her queen mommy and Brad is the knight. I think he's a bit miffed at not being at least my prince consort!

The whole princess thing really helped with the not pulling out our hair, once she found out princesses have long pretty hair and get to wear fun hair accessories it stopped. A big thanks to her best friends, Margaret's little girly girls for helping to reinforce that. Every little girl wants to be just like a princess, in ER's case like Cinderella, who is her favorite one of all.

So after this long wordy introduction I give you...my own little princess complete with her first tiny little ponytail!