'tails

Butterfly was less than six months old when her soft wispy baby hair was long enough to put into two tiny half pigtails on top of her head. She was born with a thick mohawk so that part was always long and full but it took longer to fill in on the sides. Her perky little pigtails were adorable, curling over like miniature palm trees. But her hair grew fast and soon they became tiny ringlets. My favorite was when I would cuddle her for her bedtime bottle. With one hand, she held the bottle tight while the other hand reached up to twirl her own pigtails.

Ladybug's hair was not as long but was thicker and more even filled in at birth. So her wispy strands have grown out more evenly in length. The texture is so completely different. Instead of coarse and curly, hers remains downy soft and straight. By her first birthday, I could fashion two tiny half pigtails atop her head (more like antennas than pigtails but still adorable). And more recently, her hair is long enough for all of it to be tucked into little pigtails. It doesn't form ringlets like her big sister but gathers is a soft curve that curls under at the ends. She loves her hair this way and will even ask me to do her hair in the morning. First I comb and gel Butterfly's curls and then Ladybug steps onto the stool asking "tails?" So it's become a new favorite nickname for her. This morning in music class we sang the hello song and each child gets a turn to say their own name. When it was her turn, she said "tails". I'm not sure if she was calling herself that or wanted us to sing hello to her pigtails.

As a side note, another recent favorite nickname is "shark bait". Finding Nemo has been a favorite movie lately plus she loves her Nemo picture books that we keep in the car. So she asks for Nemo frequently. And now if I call to her "shark bait!", she whips her head around with a giggle and recites "ooh ha ha!"