The scissors fasincation and the mullet

Sissy has a fascination with scissors. She actually snuck a pair in her bag from preschool the other day. She showed them to me on Wednesday before dinner. She had taken them on Tuesday. But that's not when it happened. Yesterday, yesterday around 6p. That's when it happened. Sissy had been watching Signing Times on the Tivo while I took a call for work. She paused the show and wandered off. After about 15 minutes, I headed down to find her. She came running up to me. It was a bit dark in the kitchen. Her hair was all matted against her head. "Sissy, have you been playing in water?" "No..." she said as she put her hands to her head and took off running. "Sissy, come here!" She ran off and walked back to me and presented me with a pair of my scissors. Scissors that had been in a drawer in my sewing room. "I did this", she said as she handed me the scissors. I flipped the light switch on. "Oh, my heavens!" She was covered with hair. Long beautiful strands of hair. She took the scissors to her hair. It was chopped short in the back. Three bald spots. I was so upset. I cried and cried. I called Daddy who was on his way home. Thankfully, he didn't laugh. She said she didn't know why she did it. I know why. She loves how scissors work. I let her use her scissors on my fabric and ribbon scraps while I sew. She loves picking out scraps, cutting them, and pasting them. I'm surprised I didn't find her with the glue stick decorating paper with her hair, quite frankly.

After Daddy arrived, I composed myself and headed to a meeting for my mommies group. I was late and red eyed from crying. I shared the horror I had experienced and cried once again. Everyone was so sweet. I've laughed a little about it today and cried a little more. Bad mommy. My scissors. I wasn't with her. I could go on. But I remind myself, it will grow back.

Here's the picture I snapped of the mullet she styled herself. We had just arrived at the salon. Holly was assessing the situation.

Holly was so sweet. I told her to try to "stack" it in the back and do a bob. The ladies in the salon all gathered around to see. Miss Yu even interrupted her standing Friday appointment to come assess the situation. Celestine's jaw dropped. (I've know Miss Yu for almost 30 years and Celestine a good 20.)Holly worked hard. Fine, thin hair is not terribly easy to layer. But Holly managed to create a style.

Here's Sissy's first sassy haircut.

Miss Yu's client shared a story of how her 3 year old and 5 year old grandchildren had cut each other's hair. Another woman shared a story of how she'd smeared lipstick all of the wall and her mother never stopped telling the story. Everyone was so supportive. Sissy says she understands that she is never to use scissors without Mommy or Daddy around (or Nana or her teachers). She also said she won't cut her own hair again. I can only hope...

Tatoo removal success

I successfully removed Gracie's head tattoo! There is still a very faint mark, but I figure we can do another "facial" later. Here's what I did, I applied the Acne Free and left it over night under a small lamp. The next morning, Daddy asked if Gracie was at the spa. Then, he noticed that the pen was almost gone. He was amazed. Since the stuff I had was a bit runny, I thought I'd try something a little more pasty. I remember having some Cascade plastic cleaner and applied that. After the second treatment that only lasted 2 hours, I wiped away the cleaner and the pen was almost completely gone. Daddy barely noticed it. Yay! I'll have to add a pic later.

Gracie's tattoo removal

I finally Goodsearched the right phrase and found a suggestion to use 10% benzoil peroxide to remove ink from a doll. Turns out, it's a fairly common occurence. I had some Acne Free with 3.75% benzoil peroxide, so we are giving it a go. Gracie is now under a lamp with her head slathered in acne treatment. Here's hoping...

Gracie gets a dress

I have a dress I've been wanting to make Sissy from a Japanese book on Girl's clothes. I decided to do a sample and sketched out a smaller version for her Corolle Doll Gracie. It's not perfect by any means, but I definitely have some ideas on the best way to construct the dress for Sissy. Now to choose the fabric! I'm still not sure if I'm going to try to do it reversible like Gracie's dress. I don't love the fabric for Gracie's dress. I have a few bolts of quilting cotton I bought cheaper than muslin. I think it does look cute on.

Sissy isn't a huge fan of pictures. After she saw a couple she was willing to pose one more time.

Yes, Gracie has a lazy eye and a pen tatoo on her head. The lazy eye comes from Sissy smearing Boudreaux's Butt Paste all over her head one day. I cleaned Gracie up with q-tips and washcloths. The pen was actually from 2 different days. Gracie really needs a trip though the spin cycle. Did you know that Corolle dolls can be washed on the gentle cycle in a washing machine? I don't know if this will get the pen off. Anyone know any ideas on what will take pen off a doll? No magic erasers though, I don't want to damage her skin!

Cinna-who?

After breaking out the bread machine this summer, we began to rely on the humble little machine for making dough for bread. Daddy is pretty famous in our family for making some fabulous pizza dough. The problem was that it was a long, arduous process until we realized we could use the bread maker. Daddy quickly became the bread machine expert. However, he could not attain the perfect sliceable bread. After much research online, I determined the only way we were (he was) going to attain the perfect sliceable bread was to upgrade our vertical loaf bread machine. I had read about the Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Bread Maker and even heard glowing reviews of the machine by a couple of moms on my mom's network. So, we invested. With 20% Bed Bath & Beyond coupon in hand, we loaded the kids and took a trip over to the store. They didn't have them in stock, but offered to order it for us. No instant gratification. I did save 20% off of the hefty $199.99 price tag. However, I had to pay for shipping. The Zojirushi arrived by the end of the week. I opened the package to take a peek and left it for Daddy to pull it all out.



He had the "Z" running almost as soon as he got it out of the box. We had homemade pizza that night. The next day, he made soft pretzels and SLICEABLE bread! The features on the "Z" are amazing. We didn't know what we were missing out on before. He runs it during the week and overtime on the weekends. This morning I told my son to run downstairs and tell Daddy to make cinnamon buns in the breadmaker. He was reading on Starfall.com and didn't want to budge. But, in a very short while, I heard the mixer running. Daddy came upstairs carrying 2 beaters covered in sugary goodness giving one to Bud and one to me. My telepathy skills are improving! This is what he made:



Oh my! The picture does not do these justice. Moist, sweet, delectable... These are the best cinnamon buns I've ever had.

So, yes, the Zojirushi was a fabulous investment!

The Budding Fashionista

Sissy aka "Little Miss Independence" has always been a "I do it myself" kinda girl. Lately, that has involved dressing herself more and more. Here's a little number she pulled together herself. You can't tell from the picture, but the shirt is on backwards. It has blue studs all down the front (or back if you put it on like Sissy). Daddy caught her as she was running out the back door to go play in 45 degree weather! He got quite the chuckle and had to snap a picture. To honor her independence, I suggested that she simply pull on a pair of leggings under her skirt, add socks and shoes, and a winter coat. Meltdown averted!

Bud and George

Bud is in pre-k this year. He made the cut off to go to Kindergarden this year, but we decided on pre-k. Last year when we were making the decision, he told us that he was not ready for Kindergarden and wanted to go to pre-K. That cinched it for us. He's had such a great time with his pre-K "All stars" group. Several of his classmates he's been with for years now. Sissy loves that he is in pre-k, too. She gets to go to the same school and see him when they are out on the playgrounds.

Each week there is a new "All Star", the child is featured on the bulletin board, has a parent come in to read a book to the class, and at the end of the week, bring home Curious George. When the all-star returns to George to school on Monday, they send in a story and a picture. Curious George has been making these trips for at least 5 years now. His book is quite impressive.

Here's Ian's story. These are his own words. I was merely the typist.


"George and I went on a big adventure, a long, long way away. While we were on our adventure, we watched “Shrek the Third” on the way and “Babe” on the way home. We also got snacks and balloons at Trader Joe’s on our adventure after eating dinner at Ruby Tuesday‘s. We got home very late and he was asleep. I didn’t want to wake him up.

On Saturday, he sat at the table and ate breakfast with me. He ate a pretend banana. He wanted more and more. He ate all the pretend bananas I had! He was still hungry and tried to eat a banana pillow. Then, George got to meet Triceratops. George was scared of Triceratops. He thought Triceratops was going to growl at him. George and I played all kinds of games including video games. He had a hard time because he couldn’t move the controller very well. My daddy helped us build a HUGE tower with my magnetic toys. We had so much fun. We were very tired at the end of the day and snoozed all night.

Sunday we played with my transformer in mommy’s room. We went outside and played. We got on the swings. My sissy pushed George around in her stroller. George rode in my Jeep with me. We rode in the back yard and even went in the front yard! We had so much fun."





Our long, long way away was about 2 1/2 hours up and 2 1/2 hours back. But it was definitely an adventure.

Another review at Pink with Sparkles

I'm a little late mentioning this, but Dawn over a Pink with Sparkles did another review of Polkatots and Whatnots recently. She featured our matching hairbows and belts in "Perfectly Preppy for the Resort". It is so hard to find belts for children smaller than a size 4. Our small hairbows coordinate with the ribbons we offer as well. Even little girls with peach fuzz can coordinate! While she just mentioned the girly girl stuff, we have ribbon belts for boys ,too! Here's Bud sporting one of his ribbon belts, monogrammed shirt, and monogrammed back pack from a photo shoot we did this past summer. This is my favorite picture of Bud. It truely captures his essence.

And the Winner is...

In the wee hours of the morning, I headed over to Random.org to generate the winning number for the Polkatots and Whatnots Giveaway. The tool quickly spit back "50". Lesha was the 50th comment and is the winner of the bag. The bag will be on its way later today. I wasn't the only one awake in the wee hours this morning! Congratulations, Lesha! I hope you enjoy your bag.


Thanks to everyone who participated. It was fun to read all of the comments about everyone's favorite products. Keep checking back here and at Polkatots and Whatnots, as we will be adding new products. Just a little preview, we are adding a a line of great artwork, some new bags for mom and kids, a monogrammed straw cup, and even monogrammed coffee mugs for mom. On the cloth diaper front we are adding pre-fold diapers, diaper fluff pail deodorizer, and more. We'll try to add to the website as the stock arrives.