Scalped

Some tiny tomatoes have started to grow in our little garden!

This afternoon I was watching Ava play outside in our Castle's 'backyard' when she brought over this sweet little bouquet. She has no concept of Mother's Day, just wanted to do something sweet for me. We improvised this fancy vase.

I should have taken this wink as a warning of things to come.
*cue suspenseful music

After our school time tonight Ava asked to cut some paper. Normally we are cutting out specific things, or practicing cutting on lines. One of her favorite things to do is to randomly cut blank paper, no idea why. I asked her to put the scissors away because it was time for her bath. She begged me to let her cut a few more minutes so I agreed. I left her sitting in the floor and walked seven steps to her bedroom to grab her pajamas, then three additional steps to start the bath water. When I returned to the living room this is all I saw.

No Ava. I realized she was in her Under Table Lair (also Daddy's printing station, sewing storage, filing cabinet area, but I digress). Here is the conversation that followed -

Me: Ava, come out here please. Help me pick up this paper.

Ava: I can't.

Me: What? Come out here. What's wrong?

Ava: I can't tell you.

Me: Ava James, what are you doing? What happened? Show me the scissors.

Ava: It was tangled from the wind.

Me: What? Are you cut? Are you hurt?

Ava: I tried to brush it like Ariel.
(Remember in The Little Mermaid when she brushes her hair with the fork at dinner with Prince Eric? This part of the movie intrigues Ava, she talks about it often. I knew right then that she had cut hair, not skin. Thankfully.)

The following pictures were staged after we had a long talk about cutting only paper. Ava pointed out that some people cut hair and I cut clothes (sewing). When she saw my distress at the chunky mess that the front of her hair had become she reassured me saying, "It'll grow back mommy."

I showed her the new do in the mirror. She smiled and said, "I look like Grace!" Grace has cute, intentional bangs. I brushed her choppy mess to the side and she said, "Oh, I'm Ava again!"

She was not sad at all. Just hamming it up for my camera.

Look at all that beautiful golden hair!

This was actually what her face looked like during most of the hair ordeal.
Well, we got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City...

A little flipping out

After the bath and hair styling session
I'm still hoping to have my hair guru friend work on it.

Despite the hair drama I'm so thankful to have my sweetest little reason to celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow.
This week I found out that a dear lady I chat with five days a week, a woman who has been so kind to me and has loved on Ava every chance she gets, lost her baby girl in the Oklahoma City Bombing. Her angel was staying in the childcare facility where so many tiny lives were lost. What is she feeling tonight? It takes my breath away just to imagine. I have friends and family members who span the entire spectrum of motherhood: those who have lost, those who are weary from busy mom life, those who are expecting, those who are trying, those who are waiting, and those who have already raised their babies. Wherever you find yourself, know that I'm thinking of you and sending my love. I include you all under this fabulous pink sparkly umbrella that is Mother's Day.