Sad.

Katie cut her own hair today. I thought I would be mad, but I wasn't. I was just really sad. She tried to blame it on Aimee again, but this time Aimee was taking a nap. I am also sad that she won't get to do locks of love for a long time, since my kids' hair grows so slow. I am reminding myself that it's not a big deal. And hiding all the scissors.

This is what Katie's hair looked like a few days ago:
And now after I cut it.
The arrow is pointing to where most of the damage was. It's still pretty bad there, but it looks a bit better now. I had to cut all the light part at the bottom off, and her hair looks so dark!

My wonderful mom is picking the girls up tomorrow, and taking them both for the weekend.

I am so ready.

They drive me crazy

Dolly gets a haircut

The kids. They drive me crazy. Crazy! I have an insanely long list of homework to do, so this will be short (but not sweet).

I came home from school this morning and Jon told me that Aimee had dumped valentine's day glitter/confetti in her room, and he hadn't had a chance to clean it up yet. It is impossible to clean up a mess in our house without finding a new one when you're done. Anyway, I was fine cleaning it up while he watched the kids. Except that he went and got the vacuum for me, and the kids got andes mints and shoved them in their mouths as fast as they could. Katie, with a mouth full of chocolate, said Aimee did it.

Fast forward 10 min, Aimee locks herself in her room. I run and open the door, and she is sweetly reading a book to herself. Fast forward 10 min, Aimee locks herself in her room again. I amble over, open the door, and silver glitter is everywhere. Glitter is now outlawed in our house.

Then Katie gets sent to her room until she's ready to wear pants. I am an ogre, I know. She beats on the door with a broom handle, rams the stroller into the wall, knocks over her easel, and I long for a padded room.

Then lunch. Every meal involves Aimee throwing her food on the floor at some point. Why would today be any different?

The girls go play in Katie's room, and I am enjoying the quiet so immensely I forget that quiet=an awful mess I have to clean up. Dolly got a hair cut today. Katie said Aimee did it, and I was so upset I sent her to the naughty corner. Then when I had calmed down, I was telling Aimee she's not allowed to touch scissors, etc, when she looked at me like she was wrongfully accused. It hit me that there is no way Aimee cut all that hair, she is not that proficient with scissors. Katie (eventually) confessed and got sent to her room.

Aimee is taking a nap now, and Katie is playing in her room. I have approximately 47 minutes until the little monsters are back.

On the off chance I ever talk about having more kids, please direct me to this post. Thanks!

They make me laugh

• Aimee likes to pee on the potty. She isn't trained (or even being trained) but she likes to get treats.

Here she is trying on underwear.

• We were talking about cutting Katie's hair (I was talking, Jon was objecting) and I thought she might like doing locks of love. So I asked her if she wanted to grow her hair, and then cut it and give it to someone who needs it. She very enthusiastically said, "Yes! Like Aimee!" Not quite what I meant, but Aimee could use some hair!
  
  
• Jon's mom watched the girls on Friday (thanks!) and all day Saturday and Sunday Katie called me Grandma-I-mean-Mommy.
  
  
• Aimee is a little parrot. Not only does she repeat what you say, but she gets the tone right. It's funny to hear her little mad voice telling me to go in the naughty corner.
  

The Car Seat Safety Enthusiast

Last term I wrote a research paper on extended rear-facing. Let's just say I became even more enthusiastic about rear-facing. I'm not going to ask anyone to read the whole paper, I'm just giving you the highlights!

• Most people have heard (and some doctors still say) that you should turn your child forward facing when s/he is one year old AND 20 pounds. This is outdated. Those are the absolute minimum requirements. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that you keep your child rear-facing to the limits of your car seat (usually 30-35 pounds)
  
  
• "Children are 5 times safer than when riding in a forward-facing seat into the second year of life." (From the AAP's Pediatrics Journal)
  
  
• It is not true that children's legs are more likely to be injured when rear-facing, in fact the opposite is true. "Some convertible child restraints indicate in their instructions that a child should face forward when his/her feet touch the vehicle seatback, or alternately when the legs must be bent. This prohibition is not justified by any accident experience or any laboratory evidence, and we are hoping that these instructions will soon be revised." From this article. If you have time, read the whole thing, it is awesome, and not too long.
  
  
• The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration has a list of every carseat produced in the U.S. along with ease of use ratings, and weight and height limits.
  
  
  A picture of what happens during a crash in a rear-facing car seat vs a forward facing car seat. You can see how far the head extends. It's possible for children to have their spine detach from their skull in frontal crashes.
  
  
  
  
  Here is Aimee still happy in her rear-facing car seat. She's about 31 pounds, so she still has about 4 pounds until we turn her around. Which if you know how much she eats, you would think it would be soon!

You are free to think I am weird for being adamant about rear-facing. I don't care, at all. My kid will be safer in a car accident than yours, and I try to be "better safe than sorry". Honestly, the "convenience" of forward facing is not anywhere near the added safety of rear-facing.

*Now I am done. I will resume using my blog for posting pictures of the kids.*