Joy in having a girl

Before my Beatle came along, I thought I might have only male children.  Girls are hard, I used to think.  Girls are more complicated, and they surely are no fun.  Imagine my surprise, and my joyful delight, when we found out we were having a girl.  I would be free from buying polo shirts and chinos--there would be choice and cuteness and femininity to consider!  Let's be honest:  there's only so much cuteness in a pair of overalls or sweatpants!

My Beatle is a firecracker, too.  There are many things I love about her, including those flashy eyes and her sharp tongue (I know!  At two?  She gets that mouth honestly--from her dad's side!).  But it's her hair, lately, that tickles me.

Miss Beatle did not have much hair as a baby.  She had very little as a toddler.  It wasn't until she turned two that we could say that she had sprouted some.  Before that, her hair was like a little dusting of snow.  Soft and sweet, to be sure, but nothing to speak of.

Now she's got locks and curls.  It's voluminous, and I love it.  I'm straight and fine and always have been, except for those misguided high school days when I permed the devil out of it.  Body and bounce are not things that grace my hair!  This girl has some hair I can appreciate--something she also gets from her dad's side.

In that spirit, I've been toying with headbands and barrettes.  She likes the idea of pretties in her hair, but she's two.  They don't stay in.  She loves my hair pulled back--I'm growing it lately to deal with some post-pregnancy cowlicks--but I didn't think she had enough for one.  This morning, we tried it out.

We need smaller scrunchies--mine are clearly too big--but for an hour or so she pranced around the house like Beatle-Lu-Who, with her tufty pony and wisps around the neck.

I think it's wonderful having a daughter these days.