Monday, October 20, 2008

Curly-Haired Albino Alligators

Today was a teacher workday, so we went to the brand new Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park. It was pretty awesome. I thought it would be a perfect day to go because our kids were out of school, but I couldn't imagine anyone else's would be, but, as it turned out, it was a teacher work day for all of Marin and Sonoma counties, and they all went to the Academy. We parked on the street and brought our own lunch, and my friend has a membership so I didn't have to pay the twenty-five bucks to get in (can you believe that??) so it was a pretty inexpensive day. We saw the albino alligator, we saw the rain forest sphere, we saw the aquarium, we saw the dinosaur bones, we saw dog skulls, we saw tiger sharks, etc. etc. Leila and her friend's favorite part, though, was: a) the video game where they catch bugs, and b) running around outside on the grass. I can see how it would be a little overwhelming for kids, but it made enough of an impression that Leila wants to go back "a million times."
Leila had especially good hair today. I watched her run around the grass and thought, " Man, she is having a good hair day." Her curls were perfect, a little grown out now from her last haircut in the summer, it was shiny and bouncy; total brek girl. In spite of the fact that every where we go someone comments on her beautiful hair and her cute haircut, she hates her hair. Who knew it started so early? Not me. I thought she'd have more time before she started fighting with her hair. I try to explain to her that life is so much easier when you just love what you got and forget what you don't, but she doesn't listen. Instead, she listens to her straight-haired blonde friend who, in Leila's estimation, has the answer to all questions and is the knower of all things. If she says there's a monster in her backyard, Leila completely believes it, even though I try to tell her that I have been on this earth 32 years more than her friend, and probably know more about monsters than she does. It doesn't work. So, now Leila wants long straight blonde hair rather than short curly blonde hair, and there is nothing I can do about it. Hopefully, the next time she's disappointed in her body wont be until she's anxiously awaiting her boobs and I have to break it to her that she takes after her two grandmothers in the body department, and she shouldn't hold her breath. Its hard to watch your kid go through all the things that you yourself found painful. Leila has to get two fillings, and I feel so bad for her. Everyone has to do it, and its a part of life, but what a drag. She currently thinks that going to the dentist is fun and games and you get a prize at the end, so she's in for shock. Like the first time she ate ice cream and the look on her face was like, "are you kidding me with this stuff? Where the hell have you been hiding it?!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's it. Blame it on the grandmas.

LOL.