The Butcher of McLean

We are HUGE fans of the Organic Butcher in McLean. Decent prices, great meat, and amazing service. Unfortunately that is not what I am referring to in this week's blog. Nope, I am talking about the kind of butcher who terrorizes families with sharp pointed objects, slicing through their victims with no conscience. Butcher's who leave mothers terrified, leave babies mangled, and turn fathers into vigilantes. Yes, I am talking about the kid hair stylist. Scarlett had her first haircut today, and as you can tell by the lead-in (and the pictures), it didn't go too well. At the beginning of the day, she had bangs down to her chin, but the hair on the back of her head was still behind due to the early infancy rub-off. Mommy and I quickly researched our options in the North Arlington/McLean area and we discovered Eclips Kids salon. We were happy to learn that a same-day appointment was available (not to mention the party and spa options). The staff was extremely friendly, and there were plenty of toys and DVDs to keep our toddler happy. When the haircut began, Scarlett was a little uncomfortable and started fussing. It took us 5 minutes or so to figure out the best way to comfort her, and she soon settled down quite a bit (after Mommy went to hide in another part of the salon). We instructed the stylist on the bangs and the cut in general. Although the bangs were too long, we wanted to keep some length and angle them down the right side (the stylist's left). Mommy specified a sort of shag cut that would just make the differences in length less obvious. It was difficult to see exactly what the stylist was doing because I spent most of my attention on keeping Scarlett happy, but the cut didn't go as planned. Initially it seemed as though the bangs were cut too short and uneven, as was the back. I hoped that my perception was off, and things would work out. It wasn't and it didn't! Although there was a major blow dryer issue that freaked out Scarlett (no fault of the stylist), there was no excuse for the cut Scarlett received (and I assume the blow dryer normally makes its appearance AFTER the major part of the cut is complete). A couple of minutes after we walked out the door, we realized the lower left side hadn't been touched, so Shonna walked back in so the "stylist" could fix the issue. We didn't know the extent of the disaster as a whole until the hair dried and we took out the hair clips that hid much of the damage.

Currently, Scarlett's hair is completely uneven throughout and is way shorter than we requested. Of course the length wouldn't be as much of an issue if the cut wasn't so horrendous. To be completely blunt, we could have done a better job without question and without training. How a trained stylist allowed a client, let alone our little girl, to walk out the door with a cut like that is beyond us. I sent a lovely email to Eclips this evening. I'll let you know how it turns out...

This incident capped off a busy week filled with playfulness and pain, escapade and emergency room visits.
Playfulness- multiple visits to parks and kiddie playrooms. Also, Scarlett is extremely playful these days. She is so creative
Pain- Scarlett falls, bumps into things constantly
Escapade- Scarlett is a little mischievous in a prankster sort of way. Sometimes her antics cause issues, and this week one incident landed her in the...
Emergency Room- Nursemaids Elbow. Shonna can explain (see last post).

We have been describing how our always energetic baby has become a total handful over the last few weeks. She is really just nonstop, so Paul and I have sort of vowed to try to get her as much exercise as possible as often as possible. This week was a good time to try it out because we had a three day weekend.

On Friday it was my turn home with Scarlett. We started the day off with a trip to the Pediatrician’s office to follow up on her one year visit (the iron deficiency), her rash from Sunday's pool experience, and the ER trip. In the waiting room, Scarlett was really excited about the Scarlett sized table and chairs and the other kids. She was being Scarlett, trying to get the little boys to play with her and climbing all over everything. One of the dad's was really impressed by her climbing skills at her age. I want to say we're proud of her, but really, I want her to get a healthy fear of falling.

We had to wait about 45 minutes, which is pretty unusual there. They recently switched to all electronic medical records, so I attribute the wait to growing pains. When we went back, we saw someone I've never even heard of. She was fine. Like all of the doctors there, she seemed totally competent. Like half of the doctors there, we seemed to be trading a little more expertise for a little less bedside manner. For example, one of the big reasons we scheduled the appointment was that Scarlett has been slightly anemic since birth. At her one year appointment, they told us to start giving her iron supplements and bring her back in 6-8 weeks to have her levels checked. If they weren't above a certain threshold, they'd have to do more tests. As the doctor was asking me about the iron supplements, I explained that we give them to her 1-2 times per day. She suggested giving her orange juice to help get her to take it. After explaining that we had generally been avoiding juice because one of the doctor's there basically forbids juice, I told her that we don't have a problem getting Scarlett to take her iron. In fact, Scarlett loves all medicine and will cry for it -- pointing to the cabinet where we keep it and saying "I want that." The doctor was very surprised, noting that most babies hate it because it tastes pretty bad. That would have been fine, but she continued on to explain that I should not let my baby drink the entire bottle of Iron because she would get very, very sick. Gosh, I am so glad that she told me! Here I had just placed an order for 2 cases of the stuff and planned to give her a bottle of it for dinner that night. I realize that doctors are smarter than the majority of the population, but that doesn't mean they have to treat us all like idiots.

In any case, Scarlett's levels were fine -- even better than they expected, so no need for additional tests. Ironically, she was great while they did the finger prick but was really not happy about having a band aid put on her finger. Who knows. Everything else was uneventful other than another doctor walking into the room as we waited for the Iron results and asking me about little Josephine. She seemed pretty annoyed when I explained that she had the wrong room. I'm glad they waited to switch to electronic records until we already liked this place!

After the doctor, we stopped at lunch at Sushi Zen and met Paul there. Scarlett did great with the food -- she loves Miso soup and Udon noodles and even tried a little seaweed salad. What she did not do well with was sitting still. I called Paul and told him to hurry because I need help to calm the beast. We then headed downstairs to J.W. Tumbles for the open gym. She definitely need to run, jump, and climb. She had a great time. Her favorite activities were throwing the balls, sliding down the slide (the climbing back up) and running back and forth through the other kids. Next was nap time (only 40 minutes) and playing with Mommy.

On Saturday, I had an appointment in the morning, so Paul and Scarlett went to the gym (Paul to the gym and Scarlett to Kidz Club). Supposedly Scarlett just ran laps through the Kidz Club the whole time. After her nap, we took her to the playground by our house with the slide that she loves. Well.... the beginning of the Kidz Club was a little difficult. She wouldn't let me (daddy) leave. If I put her down for a second, she would stop breathing. If I shifted her into a better position, she would cry. Eventually I was able to play the "catch me" game where I move her towards someone and pull her back. She always smiles with that one. It seemed to work and I was able hand her off and run away. A short workout later, and I was back to pick her up. She must have been running quite a bit. Her face was flushed just short of sweating. We made our way out of the mall after a few "how cute" comments and headed to potbelly to grab some sandwiches. We walked out of the car and I heard another "look at the cute baby!" in a cool African accent. This woman was really excited to see her. When Scarlett lit up with a smile it completely made her day. The older woman with her commented, "I've seen her around here before". Huh? Well its possible I guess! We get around, but not so much in the cold weather.

On Sunday, we had a playdate in the morning at the National Building Museum. Corinne was in town and was planning to go to a museum with Piri and Linnea, so we made it a big group and I also invited Jacy, Joel, and Liam. The museum was great. It was HUGE with lots of space for the kids to just run. They also had lots of different kinds of blocks for them to play with in the middle of the floor. We didn't even look at any of the exhibits, but the space was perfect and it was free. Scarlett is really into blocks, cars, and balls right now, so she had a blast. They had a cool fountain in the middle that she kept trying to jump into, but other than that it was great and fun to hang out with everyone else.

After the museum, we put her down for a nap (another short one!) and had planned to take her to the pool that evening. We decided to try for a warmer activity, so we tried the play area at Tyson's Corner Mall. It would be really cool, except that no one polices the place and not all parents seem to care what their kids are doing. You have to be less than 42" to enter the play area, but there were boys in there who weren't much shorter than me and they were playing tag. Paul and I both turned primal on a few kids for nearly plowing through our princess. She had fun and definitely threw a fit when we tried to pry her away from the place, but we were very nervous the whole time. It was packed with way too many older kids. She seemed to love the activity and get really excited watching the other kids. It's really interesting to watch her. She kept going up to other kids and trying to get them to play with her. Some would take, others not so much. But she was never discouraged. She kept approaching people innocently looking for attention. She definitely has a bit of a shy, reserved side and isn't aggressive with the big kids, but I was impressed by her ability to keep reaching out to the others.

On Monday after breakfast it was off to the J.W. Tumbles playzone. The place was crazy since it was a holiday. We actually had to wait in the hall until it cleared out some and they made it through the waitlist. It wasn't bad though because Scarlett made friends with some other children. She played with two little boys her age for a little while but eventually decided the bigger girls were more interesting and did some "monkey see, monkey do" shadowing. Once we got in there, she was in heaven. There are activity cubes lining a hall leading up to a two-story play area. Her favorite was of course the slide. This one was particularly fast and she figured it out on her own. She'd crawl up to the edge of the slide and then sit on her butt and go down feet first. She kept trying to climb back up, but that's against the rules so we had to keep a close eye on her. She crawled all through the play zone, playing with other children some but mainly beating on the balloon-like things coming out of the ceiling and playing with balls that were as big as she is. Luckily she got really hungry, so we were able to get out of there without too much of a fight.

Monday evening Paul went to the doctor because his finger has been bothering him all week. It turned out to be sort of an internal hangnail, which he had to have cut out of his finger. A few narcotics later, Paul wasn't able to join us in the pool, but he went with us as I gave Scarlett her weekly 30-minute swimming session. You'd think that after all of that activity she'd be pretty mellow when we got home. Not so. She was still running back and forth, bouncing all over the couch, and chasing Bacchus.

Yes, I was taking narcotics legally for those concerned. The doctor gave me Percocet, which didn't phase me until I received the generic version with a name containing Oxycodone. Isn't that the one you want to avoid??? I've watched a few Intervention episodes... Well, about 5 minutes after leaving the Drs office I realized why I was prescribed such a strong painkiller. I guess a scalpel and scissors do cause pain to a finger when used properly...

A few details about her development this week. She is doing really well with her language skills, although most of the time Paul and I are probably still the only ones who know what she's saying. For example, her "I want that" and "please" have become more regular and clear. She has mastered "Bacchus" and is saying "kitty" more. She is singing along to songs a lot now and when she sees a sheep says "Baaa." She even said "Puzzle" yesterday (and that one was very clear!). I swear that she's also started calling her daddy "Paul" in addition to "dada." It's pretty exciting that we're able to understand more and more of what she is saying, and vice versa. As I said, she is really really really energetic. Did I mention she is pretty hyper? It is definitely a challenge to take her any place where she can't roam. I've started scoping out places with long, wide halls that aren't crowded as possible destinations for us just for that purpose.

Ice Cream

Excitement

Snuggling

Cereal