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Hair and babies

Beth had her baby (the "prego" on the far right in the photo) so that means that we're only 2 months away from ours! Caleb Murray!

I'm most discouraged by the weekly screaming sessions that we have over Gracie's hair. She still screams bloody murder at any touch of her head that resembles fixing her hair. She's got lovely hair, but most of the time it looks messy because the screaming is so tiring that I can't handle it frequently, not to mention the fact that even nightly touch-ups and oiling invoke screaming so that my precious 1.5 hours with her in the evening are not spent playing or snuggling but rather her yelling and screaming and looking at me with pitiful eyes. Not quite the mommy-daughter bonding that I cherish. I bought an organic olive oil spray which helps (less hands-on the scalp) but I still need to fix her hair well once a week and that just wipes me out. Good thing that she loves bath time which preceeds hair fixing!

Please pray that Gracie's tolerance for hair fixing would improve as hair is such an important thing for me to keep nice. Hair and skin are so important to the African American community that it is easy to feel judged if these aspects aren't perfect. I do want to convey that we love and cherish Gracie and take care of her. Pray that I don't cut off all her hair!! ;-)

On a positive note, Gracie has a new speech therapist this year who has started "picture exchange" with Gracie. This is a very defined curriculum pattern for communication and has a set training program which apparently has very good success. Sara says that Gracie is doing very well with it. She is going to train Josh and Grandma Sue on Friday and me next week! This is so exciting! We may finally have an effective way to communicate with Gracie! Sara is also meeting with the augmentive communication specialist for the district this week and may have additional suggestions for us. Very exciting!

Oh, and Gracie is nearly 50th percentile for her height!!! Her weight still lags behind, but she's on the growth curve for weight too! Unbelievable!

Comments

Anonymous said…
so exciting about the picture exchange!!!!!! please keep us posted!!! dont feel bad, we have hair issues too...LOL its so apparent that gracie is loved and cherished....even if she hates having her hair done!
9:18 AM
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