Pixie

C's force field of cheerfulness wore off last night and we woke up at midnight to E saying, "C is throwing up!" Nice big sister that she is, she got C to the bathroom and then came to wake us up. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do for the stream of puke coming down from the upper bunk onto the ladder, L's pillow and sheets, the lamp, the cords, and a pillow pet. E and L are old enough that they stoically accept the puking, but C still sobs and pukes at the same time. It's very sad. 

She was fine within twelve hours - eating crackers and drinking lemonade by lunchtime today. I got out of work early and we took a nice nap on the couch together. The virus has worked its way through all of us and hopefully we're done for a bit.

For the last six months, C has been asking to get her hair chopped off into a pixie cut. Six months doesn't seem like a long time, but she's 5.5 years old. If you assume she became sentient around age 3, she's wanted a pixie for 20% of her life. She says she doesn't like brushing it or having tangles and she won't mind if I can't put it in a ponytail or braids or pigtails. So I picked out a bunch of cute pixies for her to peruse and she chose this one:

I planned to have my stylist cut her hair and made an appointment for when she (my stylist) was back from maternity leave. Then I realized on Monday that no one had called to confirm my appointment and called to confirm it myself. It's a good thing I did because I wrote down May 6 instead of June 6. C had already been counting down the days for WEEKS so I asked if there was an experienced stylist who could cut a 5yo's hair into a pixie. I felt like I was just ASKING for a crappy cut, but the receptionist asked around and found someone who said, "Oh, I love cutting pixies!" I asked her, "Did she really say that or did you make that up?" and she insisted that the conversation had happened.

So we went and met Brittany and I explained what C wanted and showed her the picture. Then I told her what I wanted: for my little girl to still look like a little girl. I struggled with that a little bit because I don't think it should matter if my kid conforms to society's rules about gender and sex. I think because of all the "Three girls?! How horrible for you!" comments that I get, though, I don't want people to think "Oh, she's trying to make that last one a boy." I am overprotective of C's sex because I love that she's a girl - I love having three girls - and I don't want anyone to think otherwise. 

Obviously, this is more my issue than hers. She just didn't want to tangles anymore.

Unsurprisingly, she looks adorable. Here is the back view. The front flopped in her eyes a bit too much for me ("Get your hair out of your face!") and I took her back to have the bangs trimmed a bit. I think that made it look a little more boyish, but it'll grow and she doesn't mind, I don't think. She says she likes it even though a boy in her class told her that she has boy hair. I have taken to calling her a pixie (cute nickname alert!) and with her elfin eyes, the style definitely suits her.

Comments

[Michelle]

Love the pixie cut! C is definitely rocking it. As the wearer of a pixie cut myself, I will say that it is easy to manage and as long as I have it cut regularly, I love it!

[Amy F]

She's so cute!

I totally understand the frustration with people's expectations about that 3rd child. I bought Tim a dollhouse recently and people jokingly asked if I was trying to turn him into a girl. Hello, um no. I got him a dollhouse because every time I pick him up at the Y, he's playing with the dollhouse. And I found an awesome wood one full of people and furniture for $40 and who can pass that up? Both he and Peter have been playing plenty with it. There's probably more jumping off the roof than their female cousin does, but whatever.

[jill]

I love it even more with the second trim!

[el-e-e]

Most. Adorable. Hair. EVER!!

[amy]

Does she like hair clips? Throw a couple of those in the sides and it will A) Keep hair out of her face and B) Accentuate that she's a girl. Win-Win!

[Tracy]

Adore the cut - she is so adorable!

[Melani]

She's such a cutie. I hope the "boy hair" comment didn't upset her. My daughter got her hair cut just a bit shorter than C's "before" picture in 3rd grade and some "mean girls" teased her and said she had boy hair. She is now 14 and in the 8th grade, and cut her hair for the very first time in 5 years. (On a positive note, she donated a very long ponytail to Pantene's Great Lengths).

[Becky]

Love it! She's adorable. I like the shorter bangs, too.