We get to play with Barbie, we get to buy fanciful dresses with frills and ruffles, we get to doll up using all sorts of girly accessories, we get to play pretend using dressing tables, mirrors and make-up, and we get to tie our hair into ponytails, plaits and buns.
Just like me, Angel was born with so much hair that everyone marvelled whenever they saw her. In Sweden, they have to inject a syringe into the newborn baby's head to draw blood samples (Yes, ouchhhh, tell me about it) and the doctor remarked that he couldn't see Angel's scalp amidst all the black hair.
In spite of her hair abundance, jw and I prefer to let her hair down most of the time because it looks natural and has a pretty curl at the ends. Still, there is something sweet and alluring about having your girl seated on your lap while you comb and tie her hair, so Angel and I have been doing that pretty often nowadays. As for the husband, well, he can tie all sorts of things but not hair for some reason.
So, I decided to have a simple craft session and let Angel DIY her own hair accessory.
Materials:
1) Plain metal clip barrettes
2) Rhinestone stickers
3) Satin ribbon roses
4) White glue
I bought my materials as a bundle from a craft shop but you could easily use other embellishments like felt appliques, buttons, die-cuts etc. Honestly, it's as easy as it can get. Simply let your child conjure her creativity, stick on the stickers or glue on the rest, leave it to dry and ta-dah - she has just designed her first ever barrette.
Of course, as always with items that can pose as choking hazards, mommy should be around. Not just to supervise, but also to guide, to accompany and to encourage.
For the rhinestone stickers, she could stick them onto the barrette quite well, so all I needed to do was to peel off the back of the stickers. Sometimes, it gets really tempting to influence their choice of colours or positioning when we think we can assert better aesthetics. The thing is, a craft session is to allow a child to use his/her imagine and creativity, so even if they end up sticking a monotonous string of colours or that the pieces line up in a zig zag manner, I guess we should not stick our noses into it. Hard, but try.
For the gluing part, I had to make sure that she didn't squeeze out all of the glue in one shot because she was just so fascinated by the sticky white stuff. She would apply the glue onto the roses while I helped her to stick them onto the barrette after she decided where to place them.
Reminder: Remember to wash their hands with soap after!
Within a short fifteen minutes, we had completed two barrettes and I could see the look of pride and joy on her face. She took the barrettes, ran to the room and told Daddy "See, Angel make, Angel make!"
Of course, she also wanted to put them on straightaway and feel pretty in her work of art.
There, it was the first time she had on a hair barrette and for it to be made all by herself, I guess it felt special.
Do I look beautiful? Yes dear, you are always beautiful in mama's eyes.
We did up four barrettes eventually and though they aren't of the best quality and won't make great gifts, they are still Angel's proud achievements and you bet I'm keeping these for a long time to come.