Monday, February 21, 2011

Locks of Love?!

OK, so I may or may not have hair issues... not so much with myself (fine, maybe I do...!) but moreso with the dwarves. Claire's hair has always grown relatively quickly. I remember doing teensy, difficult-to-even-handle barrettes with her around age 1, if not sooner. Her hair was thin & wispy (like mine, God bless her!), but it GREW. And she was sportin' piggies by age 2!

Claire (age 2) pinnin' Cal (age 4.5) ~ July 2003 ~ one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME.
Mrs. Pocket... well, that's another story. She's damn near 5, and I swear she still has that "bullet" (baby mullet!) thing goin'. I can pull it up into a ponytail or 2 pigtails, but there's still those long pieces behind each ear & that "party in the back" area that just isn't quite long enough to fit into the ponytail but just hangs out, doin' its own thing. It's lovely. Best to just view Lola's hair from the FRONT; the rear view is a total cluster!
We've joked for the past year or so (as Claire's hair just keeps getting LONGER & LONGER & Lola's stays the same as it was at age 2) that we TOTALLY need to grow Claire's hair out to her booty & then cut it off into a cute chin-length 'do. Then, we can donate the chopped off tresses to Polly Ann & have a custom dwarf-sized wig retro-fit to her tiny, 12.25" melon. HAHAHHAHAAHA! Their hair color is identical... I think we could pull it off. :)
Wigs are a good look for Lola, as seen here... 

Halloween 2008, where we were repeatedly asked, "Is that real?!?!?" as they pointed to the cutest witchy EVER!!!

And also here...
Halloween 2009 ~ Showing her true colors... notice the devil-y, red glowing eyes!

Oh well, it was worth a try. HA! We DID, however, chop the heck outta Claire's hair...and in doing so, we've sort of viewed her in a whole new light. It's hard to explain, but it's almost as if her new look finally matches her age. She IS almost 10 years old (July 2011! OMG! How is that possible?!??!), but due to her tinyness & delayed development, I think she seems younger than she really is. Until now! Instant tween. :)

BEFORE:
I love this picture because Claire is *SO* put out to have to "hold" her sister (notice eye-roll action)... and Lola's trying to be all still & perfect so Claire doesn't put her in a headlock. Dwarf sibling rivalry is BRUTAL!!!!! Love these girls...OMG.

AFTER:
I love your little grin SO MUCH, Claire... wish I could see it more often!


We all LOVE the new 'do! It's so CLAIRE. :)

I thought to myself tonight, I want to show off Claire's new look! And as I continued writing, I realized this is about SO MUCH MORE than just her new haircut. I realized how hard it is for me to select pictures to post of Claire. I love them all, but DO I purposely try to post pictures of her where she is looking more "typical"? Do I tend to shun those where she's doing one of her "Claire-isms?" I joke that I have to take 50 pictures to find 1 good one, and you know, maybe they're ALL good because they're all CLAIRE. All those weird, quirky, strange, spastic, reflexive movements & all. Yet, I DO find myself most excited to post the "pretty" ones. Yep, I DO seem to avoid those where she's grimacing or growling or arching or showing off her black teeth (a post for another day!) or acting "different" in general. Why is that??  I think it is partly because I do like seeing her in that light...but I think it is mostly because I want people to love my girl.

Here's a tiny glimpse into the other side of our beautiful Claire. xo
"Chameleon Eyes" at their finest... Damn Strabismus!
Growling at Mommy! STOP taking my picture!!!

I knew it was time to stop trying to get that "perfect" picture when she shot me the "Go to Hell!!!!" look... I'm SO incorporating this one into my daily life. :) Love you, Claire-bug!!!

19 comments:

lu said...

How do you do it?? Make me laugh and cry at the same time? I ADORE you and your baby girl is as gorgeous as her mama. xoxo

Nan said...

Love the new do on Claire! Gwen....10? Isn't that just crazy? Sev turns 12 in April. He's sportin a fuzzstache and other interesting new hair growths....

Approaching 10 years and we've still not met. Really? We must take care of that sometimes soon.... <3

SAEE said...

Agree with lu...made me laugh and cry. I find myself doing the same thing Gwen with Emma. I never thought about it...but if I snap a pic and she is grimacing...I am not quick to post. Excpet for that awesome yawn one on FB. LOL. I love Claire's hair. We cut Emma's last year (and mine) for LOL.

helicopter Mum of 6 ♡ said...

I am in love with her new 'do!

I totally know what you mean about using the perfect picture (usually only get 1 out of 50, you're right!). I do that a lot with Aidan. Don't use the 20 pictures where he is seizing, but use the 1 picture where he stops to smile. I guess it's human nature for us to pick the best pictures of our kids that we can? But now that I think about it, I do the same thing with Cole too. And his not so flattering pics aren't even because of seizures! So maybe we are just hard on ourselves - maybe it's okay to post the best pics of our kids... They'd probably appreciate us for it right?... For posting the most flattering pics of them!

I also love Claire's cheeky grin!

Love how much I see Aidan in Claire, vice versa. <3

Joyfullygrateful said...

Aww Gwen ~ I could write the same thing about myself ~ do I allow those outside of my intimate window "sense" my real me ~ the ordinary, day-to-day "me"? I realize this is all an illusion that I just love to project ~ that I could possible hide any part of me ~ that which I perceive as unlovable or rejectable ~ from any source. Today, I read about You through your story of Claire ~ I found me. Thank you! With love ~ because I really know that there is nothing but love ~ even when I "see" otherwise. <3

Sue Cook said...

Claire is absolutely stunning with her new hair-do! I love all the pictures you post!

Connie said...

Love the blog, Gwen!! I so enjoy seeing "all" the pictures of your beautiful family. Reminds me that I NEED to take more pics. I always think well Grif just looks the same in every photo, so I tend to not take as many as I did when the other kids were his age-not fair!!
Love~
Connie

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

Stephanie, I think we can all relate to the picking posting issue. I don't like to post them if Emily's eyes aren't looking the same direction, or her mouth is twitching, or she's drooling or has her tongue hanging out ... you get the idea! But on the same note, I don't like pictures of my (typical!) 10 year old unless they're complimentary either! So I guess it's normal. We don't like pictures of OURSELVES if they're "off" do we? :) Heck, I don't like even the good pictures of myself! hehe

I love Claire's new haircut. It is adorable, and she does look older!! :)

Janene said...

Gorgeous girls!! Take after their mama: )

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hi All:), I am a little person, dwarf. I have Achondroplasia, the most common prevalent, and I shared your Beautiful family on our egroup (a dwarfism of all types discussion group on Yahoo) and also on my Dwarf news facebook page, as I was sooo touched by all of you:).

fb dwarf news link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_181862048501882

yahoo discussion group link:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dwarfism/message/54259

God Bless, grady

Monica said...

She looks beautiful, and like she's ready to catch Bieber fever any second now! You summed it up perfectly about the pictures. I've taken literally thousands of pictures of Katelyn, and though I've shared quite a few, they're usually the ones where shes not making her usual movements or muscle flexing . Our kids are beautiful, with our without their drooly faces and right muscles.

dotti ottinger said...

Never visited your blog before, but your girls are amazing [and beautiful] so i expect to be coming back often to check in on them. By the way, the music is great too

Whimsey said...

LMBO; Claire's look reminds me of Kaitlyn's look last weekend on the basketball court - you remember, the one where the daggers came INTO the stands directly at me? HA HA HA HA

I LOVE the new haircut; makes her look so grown-up! She's got that tween 'tude goin' on momma!

Hugs!!

kelli Barkema said...

Gwen, these are great pics! My Lola was so excited to see the 'other' Lola! :) We love it! So glad to hear everyone is doing well!

Kelli Barkema
the 'other' Lola's mommy - from Caringbridge.

Skylar said...

I love her new cut Gwen! She does look older...and beautiful!! I just looooove reading these.

Stephanie ODea said...

That's a great haircut! WTG Claire!
and? I've NEVER heard the term "bullet" before for a baby mullet. genius!
oxox

Anonymous said...

I seriously LOVE the "Go to Hell" look from Claire. She's working that hair do, rocking it in fact. As a photographer I take 100's of photos of babies and children, but may only select a handful for display. The other 295 photo's that 'aren't perfect to me' go on a disc for the parents of that child. As what is not perfect for me, may be the best photo ever taken of their child... and who am I to judge??...

Smith said...

nice

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