Haircuts and Fingernails
Excuse me while I complain for a minute.
Yesterday we did the typical first day of summer stuff.
Swimming was a first must-do, since it is her most favorite thing, and she doesn’t get to go at her mother’s, and she needs to refresh her skills before swimming lessons start in a week.
Really though, swimming is an excuse to make her take a shower even though “I just took one yesterday”, and I can scrub her head and get all the sand and oil out and make sure she is washing everywhere. I still get kind of sick when I think about when she came here in March and had built-up dirty patches under her chin, the back of her neck and her ankles. Blech.
Next, we went shopping.
First, a haircut. Sunshine’s hair is usually in desperate need of a trim almost every time she comes here. I took her in and the lady said that at least two inches needed to come off to fix the dried ends and split hairs. Fabulous. I like her hair shorter anyhow. So off went 2 1/2 inches.
Then on to shoes. She came with her usual lovely pair of worn out sneakers that are too small for her. At least we had a credit at Kohls from the last batch of clothes my MIL sent that didn’t fit. So new shoes it was.
Then a loofah (last trip her loofah mysteriously met the toilet bowl, she blames her father, he blames her, it is a toss up to which did it), swimming shampoo, bath bubbles (she isn’t allowed baths at her mother’s anymore, only showers), etc. I took care of all her clothes shopping before she got here. Somehow I knew she would arrive with either nothing, or nothing worth unpacking. Surprise, I was right.
On to the library, at her request. We got her a library card here the last time we live here and she keeps it in her purse. She likes having her own cards and money and stuff and takes really good care of it. I took her up to the children’s section and ten minutes later she came waddling over with a pile of at least ten books. I told her to break it down to five and promised that we would be coming back as soon as she finished those five. Girl loves to read. She is currently in her room finishing up “Holes”, which she started yesterday.
I figured that was enough for yesterday, so today we finished up cleaning her up with her father watching her trim her nails (we taught her a long, long time ago, since nobody at her other residence can figure out how to do it) which had grown so long they were all broken off and pointy.
Don’t you think that would be uncomfortable? Really? Wouldn’t it make walking feel weird? Wouldn’t they stick to your socks and rub your other toes? She just shrugs when I ask and says she doesn’t let it bother her. I don’t push her for more than that. We’ll probably buy her *another* pair of clippers before she goes back again. At least those are cheap.
And we are working, yet again, on matching clothes and teaching her how to know when something gets to be too small. Nobody notices up there when her jeans are halfway up her shins or her long sleeves are at her elbows.
Enough bitching for today, I think…
Tags: sunshine
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Poor sunshine. It’s really pathetic- the way they treat her.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Why can’t she take baths at her mother’s house anymore? She’s under 9, right? I’ve found it’s pretty tough when you are maybe 6/7/8 to really wash well in a shower.
And I simply don’t understand why some parents don’t seem to notice or care when their child’s toenails are like daggers, or when they have crusty dirt patches behind their ears.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Bitch away…please. It sounds like you have some very good reasons!
I’ve never understood why it’s okay with some parents for kids to be poorly groomed. Mind you, my kids weren’t sparkling clean 24X7…but they were bathed and in clean clothes EVERY DAY! And their hair was kept neat and trimmed (my daughter is 24 and still likes for me to french braid her hair for her sometimes).