learning to heed the warning

sarah's curls...

There are moments in our life when the warning bells sound but we just stand there and think, "hmmm, something here doesn't seem right" although it is staring us right in the face.

Sunday afternoon, Sarah decided she wanted to curl her hair and thought using my old heated curling brush was a great idea. Important note: I had previously told her not to touch it until I could show her how to use it. On this day, however, I was distracted and quickly answered "yes" when she asked but caught myself and said, "first let me show you what to do."

A few minutes later Sarah returned. Thinking I was going to show her how to use the curling iron I waited for her to hand it to me. Instead, she said,

"I like this part sticking out."
Looking up from the paper I was confused and said, "What?"
"Right here, Mom. See?"

She was standing in front of me with a chunk of hair no longer than 2.5 inches sticking straight out one side of her head and an 80's ponytail sticking straight out the other side. All I could think was, "she probably should use more hairspray to stick that down." Note: warning bells were sounding but I was not hearing them.

She kept staring at me as if she wanted me to say something. Then it hit me.

"Did you cut your hair?"
"Uhhhhhhh, no."
"Was that from the curling iron?"
"Mmmm. Hmmm."
"Did you tear the curling iron out of your hair?"
Panic. Then eyes darting, "It got stuck."
"Stuck HOW?"
"In my hair."
"HOW did you get it out?"
"With scissors."

By then all we could do was to try and blend it in. She brought be a perfect long blond curl and I just wanted to glue it back.

Sarah, on the other hand, was delighted. When I was finished blending, Sarah said, "Thanks, Mommy! I always wanted bangs!" Then she bounced off and disappeared to show Elizabeth and Sam.

Suddenly, Elizabeth was standing above me, "Why did SHE get bangs?"

What should I say to that? The truth which was, "because I was too busy reading the paper and not paying attention to her?" Instead, I gave Elizabeth the ultimate Mommy answer which was,

"Because she did."