Holding Still

while watching wiggle bay...

Today Habtam and I decided to twist his hair. His hair has looser curls than Lire's, and needed more loc butter, but it seems to be holding the twist pretty well. We'll see how sleep affects it. He wants to keep it in as long as possible, and then to twist it out and let his hair get BIG like Lire's was. Lire was a bit jealous during the session. He kept putting himself upon my lap and saying "twist Mommy! Why no twist two boys?"

We also introduced "eskimo kisses" (rubbing noses) to the boys tonight. H, as with everything, got carried away and would have rubbed our noses raw if given half a chance. L likewise did not want to stop -- "I like it. I like it a lot. I like it a lotter."

Does anyone else watch the Wiggles? The boys picked Wiggle Bay from the library, and really love the music, dancing and singing along. I thought it was pretty funny, especially when everyone was partaking of "Rosie Tea." Does anyone else think "rosie tea" might be code for, um, something else? It's just that everyone REALLY seemed to be enjoying it. A lot. A lotter.

Hair do

Of late the boys have been bugging me to play with their hair. They love when I apply the oils and emollients that keep their heads feeling soft and looking shiny (haircare commercial, anyone?). They await new product as much as I do, and they like to scan the internet with me, looking at various boys' hairstyles.

I really lucked out, I know. I mean, this may not last once they become more self-conscious, so I have to take advantage of their enthusiasm, which seems to know no bounds yet.

It was the boys on this blog who really interested our boys. I don't think we're ready for dreads yet, but I was finally ready to try some twists.

Today I started on Lire. I was going to start with H, since he has been asking me about it longer, but he was sleeping this afternoon when I was brave enough to begin, and L's head is smaller and has a lot less hair.

I was able to do about 1/4 of his head with nothing to distract him but the actual tub of hair product. I finished 1/2 his head as he ate peanut butter and jelly crackers and chatted with H about what it felt like. The other half of his head was accomplished while watching a Dragon Tales dvd (thank you Lisa and Dawit's mom for the D-tales tip. The guys LOVE them).

All of us here think L looks cute, which isn't a tough feat. The guy is perennially cute, even when he's having a screaming fit. I know the twists are uneven in thickness, and a bit haphazard, but I'm proud of our first foray into alternative hairstyles. We both had a really good time, and now H says he wants me to do his.

I've been exploring hair sites and I think we'll leave these in for a couple days and see how they do with daily conditioning and refreshing the twists as needed. Then we'll "twist out" and see how that goes. Fortunately L is patient for a 3 year old and seems to be very interested in his own looks these days. Another plus I suspect is the winter hat conundrum. Both boys want their hair long. I condition, comb and fluff up their hair every morning, only to put on a winter hat which mashes it down by the time they get to school. Once at school I refluff it and by the time I pick them up, it looks like it did in the morning, for the most part. Today when L took off his hat after a walk with dad and chauncey, his twists still looked good.

We'll see.