Building A Better Parent
During my approach to parenting there were a few things I was nervous about. How would we pay for college? How would I handle the responsibility of caring for a vulnerable individual? How would we have to adjust our personal and professional lives so as to maximize our ability to parent intentionally?
Most importantly however, were questions about how quickly I would learn to do little my little girl's hair in the morning.
The way our family schedule shakes out, I am the primary caregiver in the morning. Diaper changing, feeding and dressing give me little cause for concern. I can do those things in my sleep. But hair? Shoot. I don't even brush my own hair. I did not spend my childhood practicing how to do my doll's hair. I was completely unprepared for such endeavors.
Lucky for me, Elli was slow to grow a full head of hair. For a while I did not have to do anything with it. Just a little wet rag and we were good to go. But her hair would continue to grow to the point where I had to do something with it so that it would not hang in front of her eyes ala our good friend Aloysius Snuffleeupagus (more commonly known as "Mr. Snuffleupagus" or "Snuffy").
The good thing about babies is that silly hairstyles are socially acceptable. This provided me some grace as I went through the one pony tail sticking straight up in the air style for a while. But recently, the hair situation has necessitated a shift to two pony tails protruding from the back of the head. This style calls for the very difficult skill of evenly parting the hair down the middle, and getting a clean pony tail with minimal stray hairs.
It started out pretty rough, but we're getting better. With help from Elmo's World, Elli will sit still long enough for me to slog my way through the adventure each morning. What used to take me 20 minutes is now only taking me five. And, the pony tails are getting tighter.
Just a little word of encouragement to all of the dads out there. With patience and practice, you too can do your daughter's hair with ease.
Fair Dinkum
Most importantly however, were questions about how quickly I would learn to do little my little girl's hair in the morning.
The way our family schedule shakes out, I am the primary caregiver in the morning. Diaper changing, feeding and dressing give me little cause for concern. I can do those things in my sleep. But hair? Shoot. I don't even brush my own hair. I did not spend my childhood practicing how to do my doll's hair. I was completely unprepared for such endeavors.
Lucky for me, Elli was slow to grow a full head of hair. For a while I did not have to do anything with it. Just a little wet rag and we were good to go. But her hair would continue to grow to the point where I had to do something with it so that it would not hang in front of her eyes ala our good friend Aloysius Snuffleeupagus (more commonly known as "Mr. Snuffleupagus" or "Snuffy").
The good thing about babies is that silly hairstyles are socially acceptable. This provided me some grace as I went through the one pony tail sticking straight up in the air style for a while. But recently, the hair situation has necessitated a shift to two pony tails protruding from the back of the head. This style calls for the very difficult skill of evenly parting the hair down the middle, and getting a clean pony tail with minimal stray hairs.
It started out pretty rough, but we're getting better. With help from Elmo's World, Elli will sit still long enough for me to slog my way through the adventure each morning. What used to take me 20 minutes is now only taking me five. And, the pony tails are getting tighter.
Just a little word of encouragement to all of the dads out there. With patience and practice, you too can do your daughter's hair with ease.
Fair Dinkum