Friday, June 13, 2008

Move Over, P!nk!

Ok, so all year long Caroline has been asking me to dye her hair. She often sees her friends at school with pink or purple or blue streaks in their hair. It's the style at the moment, and I'm not entirely opposed to it. I think it's a cute, colorful expression of personal style and appropriate enough for a little girl. Here's the thing though: Caroline has fine wavy hair like I do. Not a blessing, I assure you. And this sort of hair holds on to colors and dyes like your superglue holds on to your fingers when all you wanted to do was fix that knick-knack your friend gave you that you never liked but always displayed to avoid hurt feelings and....I digress....

So I've told Caroline all year that she'd have to wait until summer when school was out. Just in case something goes wrong, right? At least in the summer, I can keep her locked in the dungeon for longer before anyone calls the cops.


When it came time to do the deed, she chose black instead of pink (she doesn't like pink right now--"It's for BABIES, Mom!"). Furthermore, she wanted her whole head dyed, rather than a few streaks. Naturally, I'm not going to let her go that far, so I told her she could have black but only in semi-permanent, so it would wash out in a few shampoos. After all, it's just for fun. We're not making any Jon Benet Ramsey's here.

The foam itself for this "Electric Black" temporary dye is actually a royal purple color, which turns black after 30 minutes on. Turns black except on Caroline, that is.

Her formerly beautiful blond is now a lovely shade of french lavender.* I have this urge to start singing Purple Rain. Or One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater. She really likes that one.

No worries though...let people stare, she said. Because now instead of being a gypsy or a pirate or Anne Boleyn, she is a Mermaid!

At least for a week.

*I would love to have included a photo here, but for some reason, on film her hair simply looks gray. Darn camera!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

School Days and Anne Boleyn

My Caroline,

As usual, you are simply fascinating. I don't know many 7 year olds who even know who Anne Boleyn is, but you not only have a good grasp of her story (better than most adults I know), you have also adopted her as a character in your repertoire of play-acting parts. Now, it's true that we don't have an abundance of Tudor-type costumes to choose from in this house (try nothing, really) but that has not stopped your imagination from concocting something you feel is close.
The other night you came to me wearing one of my headbands (which you always tell me looks like one Anne Bolyen would wear) and one of my shirts, which I guess you think fits the picture as well as anything we have. The best part though, was your expression. Trying to imitate the portraits of the time, you adopted this imperious and prim expression, your chin up, your mouth pursed. I love it!



Just be careful who you marry, OK?


Today was your last day of school. And you, ever the non-conformist, decided to forego wearing your pyjamas to school as your friends were all doing and instead wore your pretty yellow chiffon dress that Grandma Myrick sent to you. You walked with confidence amazing in someone your age and you looked absolutely adorable. You got lots of smiles from people as we walked to your bus stop this morning.

Your little pink cardigan sweater over it, and your little sandals made you look girlier than you normally put up with.



And for the last bit of this post, I offer my congratulations to you. You aced your STAR testing, which your teacher announced to your class, AND your report card today was wonderful! You are definitely a smart little girl, and your father and I are so proud to see you putting that brain power to work. Not only in your academic life but in your creativity. The world is wide open to you!

I will end this post with mine and Daddy's love, and with the words of your teacher, Herr Zappey, who we are fortunate to be having as your teacher again next year. Herr Zappey, we are incredibly impressed with your dedication and skill. Caroline has grown---we can see it!---and it is obvious that you get a lot of the credit for that. We are so blessed to know we'll be seeing you again. ;o)


"Caroline has made outstanding progress this year! Her reading and written expression have flourished and her German has grown by leaps and bounds. Caroline has wonderful and creative ideas and gets other kids hooked! I enjoy her enthusiasm and dedication to principles! Thanks for a great year---see you in August!"

Monday, June 2, 2008

Golden Apples and Seafoam

My Caroline,
I'm glad to see your imagination is not failing you (except in the case of bells and angels ;o)~). We put you to bed at the normal time of 8pm last night, but when I came to check on you around 10, I found you sitting straight up in bed just staring in the dark with this thrilled look on your face.

I asked you why you were still awake and you excitedly informed me that you'd "just come back" from an adventure in the "Garden of Hesperides"! You recounted to me all about how you saw Ladon the dragon guarding the golden apples, and how you even saw the elusive Hesperides themselves. You'd tried to take a golden apple from Ladon's stash, but you accidentally dropped it and Ladon heard you. He almost caught you and tried to bite you, but you were saved at the last second by your pegasus named Blackjack. You'd only just got back and whew! Were you ever tired and ready for bed now!

And this morning? This morning as we ran to your bus stop, slightly late, you told me proudly that the reason that you're such a fast runner is that your shoes are made of seafoam and that makes you FAST!

*giggle* Caroline, I adore the very air you breathe. You make my own life beautiful.