I have been inspired lately by a friend of mine's cute blog. She has a video tutorial on this cute little hairstyle and watching it gave me the itch to try it out. (But you know how that is, typically you watch the video or read the instructions, see how easy the project is and think to yourself 'Yeah, I can do that!', all while nodding your head in cheerleader-style pep rally mode. Then, upon trying and failing ump-teen times you decide instead that your time is better spent screaming in a pillow.)
But not this time. Heather at Gerber Days has this tutorial for a front braid that seemed so easy I decided I had to try it and found it WAS that easy! I have been doing it on my girls' hair for weeks now and they love it because it keeps their hair out of their face without the typical spastic ponytail. It requires a little french braiding know-how, (which I have none of, by the way and I still managed to pull it off). Here's the kicker: because I could do this style, I decided I wanted to try my hand at french braiding again (trusty screaming pillow was close at hand).
I called my youngest daughter over and told her my plan with a gleam in my eye and hairbrush in hand.
She stared at me with this look of "Not again, mom. Don't you know by now that you suck at french braiding?"
She's usually very bubbly and up for any kind of new adventure.
This time she hung her head, sighed and spun around in extreme slow motion hoping to delay the inevitable mommy breakdown.
I cleared my throat and began brushing.
My 6 year old son, who is just now deciding to climb out of bed at 10 am in the morning, comes clumsily trudging down the stairs.
"Morning, mom...oh." He sees I have a brush in hand and gives Julia a pity look.
Julia shrugs her shoulders.
I roll my eyes.
"Mom," Garrett asks, "what can I have for breakfast?"
"How about cereal, Boy. You'll have to get it yourself this morning." My hands were tangled in 3 sections of hair at the moment.
I hear him rummaging through the pantry. A box of cereal falls to the ground and I hear the crackle of cereal bits on the floor.
"Oops" he says.
I have successfully untangled my fingers and continue braiding making a mental note to sweep the pantry after I'm done.
Garrett is now in the kitchen getting the milk. A Tupperware container falls from the top shelf of the fridge.
"I'll get that," he states.
I'm halfway through the braid and it's looking good so far.
Boy pours the milk on his cereal and proceeds to put the newly opened gallon jug back in the fridge. The same Tupperware container falls out again. This time, it opens. I pause, cringing at the sloshing mess I hear in the next room.
"I got this, Mom!" This time he uses his confident voice. The one which says 'there's a mess in here but I don't want you to see it so I'm gonna play it off like it's no big deal and hopefully clean it up before you see what kinda damage was really done'.
I was stuck between the final few braids and curiosity as to the catastrophe in the kitchen.
I hear him get a spoon from the drawer but he accidentally catches his finger in the drawer and I hear a half laughing "OW!" from him. "I'm ok!" he giggles.
"You ok, Boy?", I ask just in case.
"Yep", again with the confidence.
Another few braids and I'm home free. The hair is getting shorter and shorter in the back (she has a bob that has grown out a little so I wasn't even sure if it would work).
I managed to get the last strands of hair into the ponytail and tie it off.
I paused momentarily to look at what I had created. Julia stood completely still, possibly because she wasn't sure if I was happy or about to grab the screaming pillow and begin hitting my head against the wall.
I spun her around to see the front. That would be the tell-tale sign of success.
What stood before me was perfection.
I had FRENCH BRAIDED!! (echo, echo, echo)
I felt like donning a cape and going out to all the world french braiding for every girl!
Garrett, who has finished his cereal, drops his bowl into the sink and it crashes other dishes down.
"Nothing broke!" he says.
I am jolted out of my daydream and back to the reality that I'm probably the only mom in the world who didn't know how to french braid till now. [hangs cape up]
*sigh*
Post-Breakfast Damage Control reporting for duty...
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