Dotty's First Haircut

The Mullet...When Dotty cut her own hair.



Lynsey Erickson and Dotty after Dotty's "Correction Cut"



9 inches off the back to "even things up"!

Making a Mountain Out of a Mullet

I love the saying I heard an ESPN radio guy say once..."A person's true character comes out when everything is going wrong." I tend to believe that. I also tend to panic at times as a mother.

Many times I make mountains out of molehills...as the old saying goes. However, last night I was pretty proud of myself.

Jeri came over to eat with me and Dotty. Dotty is crazy about Jeri and vice versa. While Jeri and I were visiting at the dinner table, Dotty was eating a Popsicle and watching a Barbie movie. Dotty then came in the kitchen to get her safety scissors from the drawer.

Now I know what many of you are thinking but I was a hawk with Dotty when she first started using scissors and now I felt like she knew what to cut and what not to cut.

Good thing I can admit when I am wrong.

Dotty took the scissors into her room. Yes...a warning flag went up but I try to not hover over Dotty. I was going to give her a few minutes then check on her. Well five minutes was all that girl needed to cut roughly half her hair off...the front half.

Dotty had given herself a mullet-type haircut.

Now the look on my face I am sure was priceless. But I did not yell. I did not get mad. Dotty...knowing she is not supposed to cut any hair...hers or others...ran back to her bedroom crying.

I followed and explained that I was not mad. I told her we would have Lynsey fix it the next day. And then I reminded Dotty that we do not cut our own hair. Mommy does not cut her own hair. Memaw does not cut her own hair. Daddy doesn't. Brittany doesn't. (I almost added Nana to the mix...but that would have been a lie.)

I told Dotty that Lynsey went to school to learn how to cut hair and that is why Memaw and Mommy let Lynsey cut our hair. After a few more minutes of crying (Dotty...not me...I did hold it together) and then playing "Angry Birds" on Jeri's phone (again...Dotty...not me)...Dotty seemed okay and the rest of the night went by fine.

Today for school Dotty wore what was left of her long hair up in a ponytail with LOTS of clips to hold up the shorter sides.

Wish Lynsey luck tonight as she tries to fix Dotty's home haircut!

I promise to post pics soon!

An Afternoon with Chuck...

Because it is so miserably hot outside these days I have been looking for fun things for Dotty to do in the afternoon that center around an air conditioned building...preferably not our house because we both get bored there.

Yesterday when I got Dotty from school I had the brilliant idea to take her to Chuck E Cheese's. It was 3:30 in the afternoon so I was hoping it would not be crowded and Dotty would not want to actually eat there.

40 bucks and an hour and a half later we left Chuck E Cheese. Dotty was thrilled with her two plastic heart rings and her tiny box of Nerds candy. I was thrilled to have survived!

The one upside to the trip was that we sat in the photo booth together and got our picture made. It was such a high quality photo that now I can check "Christmas Card picture" off my list of things to do!

Praying for the Pod...

I always love Dotty's prayers. She is so sweet and sincere and down right hilarious at times.

Last night she prayed for rain...she is a good farmer's granddaughter after all. She prayed for a puppy dog. She prayed that she would become a princess some day.

Then she prayed for an iPod.

Yep...my 3 year old prayed for an iPod. And then she got specific.

She wanted a pink and purple iPod. She wanted one with games, pictures, and music. And she wanted one that Mommy would know how to turn on (now that would take divine intervention).

She went to sleep after that but when she woke up this morning she asked me if I was going to get her an iPod today. I told her she had asked God for one (knowing full well God is not Santa but Dotty sort of thinks He is).

Dotty thought for a moment then put her little hands together and her head down and whispered, "God, please make Mommy buy me an iPod today."

She looked up at me and just smiled. I plan on finding the Garth Brooks CD with the song "Unanswered Prayers" on it to play for Dot today.

Packed and Ready

Dotty packs up her things EVERY time we go ANYWHERE!!! And if she is going to see her Daddy for the weekend she packs up almost her entire toy room!

I am not sure if all kids do this, if it is just a phase, or if Dotty is just...well special?!?!

I don't fight her on the packing. Life is too short.

She fills up one bag and asks for another...I get her one.
She fills up all the bags we have (and being girls...we have LOTS of bags)...I get her old birthday gift bags that I saved (originally thinking I would use them to scrapbook with but really...who am I kidding???).

Dotty's packing does two things for me.
#1 - It occupies her so I can get some stuff done.
#2 - When I unpack her toys I often clean out a few and donate them.

So I think it is a win/win situation.

Tony on the other hand just looks at the back of my SUV and shakes his head. I am sure he wonders why in the heck I let her do this.

Oh that reminds me...Dotty's packing also helps me out in one more way.
#3 - I don't have to be the bad guy and tell her she can't take that stuff with her...Tony does.

Payback for the caterpillar buddy!!!

We Had a Visitor...

The other night Dotty and I had a very busy "visitor" at our house. His (or her...I am not really sure) name was "Nobody".

The first time I realized Nobody was at our house was when I went into Dotty's toy room and the popcorn was thrown all over the floor. She was sitting calmly in a chair watching her movie. When I got on to her for making a mess with the popcorn she told me she didn't do it. I asked her, "Well if you didn't do it, then who did?"
She said, "Nobody."

Later that night I walked into the living room to find my area rug all rolled up and pushed to the side. I asked Dotty, "Why did you roll up the rug." She said she didn't do it. I asked her, "Well if you didn't do it, then who did?"
She said, "Nobody."

When Dotty was taking a bath I came back in the room from getting a warm towel out of the dryer and water was all over the floor. I got on to her for turning our bathroom into a man made lake. She said she didn't do it. I asked her, "Well if you didn't do it, then who did?"
She said, "Nobody."

At that point I informed both Dotty and Nobody (who must have been hiding because I could not see him/her) that it was bedtime and it was time for Nobody to leave. I also told Dotty that since Nobody had not been a very good guest in our home I would appreciate it if she did not invite him/her back.

The next morning, I was getting Dotty ready for school when I found a trash can turned over in the floor. I got on to her for making such a mess. She said she didn't do it.

Oh great! Here we go again!

I said, "Well if you didn't do it, then who did." Although why I asked I don't know since I already knew the answer...or did I???
She said, "Nobody's Cousin...her name is Presley just like my cousin."

I could not help myself. I started laughing so hard I cried. That made picking up the trash not seem so bad.

Take It With a Grain of Salt...

Last night I went in to check on Dotty after she had been asleep for an hour or so. I bent down to kiss her on her cheek and she started to stir. She sat up and asked me for a drink.

When I brought her a juice box to sip on (with her eyes still shut) she mumbled sweet words to me. She said, "Mommy...I love you most."

Now of course that melted my heart and brought a smile to my face. However, as Dotty laid her head back down on her pillow and snuggled in to drift back off to dreamland she also whispered "And I love Cookie most too."

For those of you who don't know...Cookie is Brittany's dog.

At least I won't be lonely at the top!