Eddie

We're still here.  We're just lost in the chaos of so many new things.  You'd think we'd have settled in by now... not quite.

This is for my little, darling Eddie.  That girl has BLOSSOMED with a new baby in the house.  Her mothering instincts have kicked in!  Mind you, they were already there, they've just skyrocketed through the roof.  At any given moment you can find her checking on the Kid, holding him, singing to him, helping Millaker, protecting the Kid FROM Millaker, etc.  Oh, she is sweet!
She adores her big brother and when he's home from school she's often at his side.
She often lines her toys up in her bed and tucks them in at night.
Last night she tucked all the little ones into her "princess shoes."  She wants them to feel special and have a nice place to sleep.

Like I said, so very, very, sweet.

Her hair has been growing quite long (finally- after years of twisting it and breaking it off...) and everyday after we'd brushed it and fixed it she'd stand in front of the full-length mirror trying to see just how far down her back her hair had grown since the previous day.  
Now that you have the background, let me introduce you to Wednesday.
Wednesday afternoon we picked Guy up from school.  Normally, when we get home, The Kid, Millaker, and I all take a nap (or at least I try to rest) and the two big kids play quietly in their room.
Guy asked if they could watch a movie if they were really quiet and let me NAP.  Sure thing, kiddo!
So I napped.
And that part was great.  Or so I thought.
And when I woke up I was a smiling ray of sunshine- for all of eight or so minutes.
I thanked the kids for letting me sleep, told them to clean up their rooms while I got a movie out, and questioned them about the scissors on the floor.
"Uh... we were cutting some paper."
"Ok, well, please clean them up.  I don't really like them in your room and we don't want Millaker to get them."
"Ok."
I go get the movie and return.
I start to talk to the kids and do a double take.  One, two, three hard looks at Eddie and I realize, her hair is NOT tucked behind her ear. 

It's just gone.
"Eddie! Who cut your hair?"
"Guy."
"What?!"
At this point he started to cry. 
The kind big brother had been all to willing to comply with her request for a hair cut.
And then he'd stashed the hair behind his bed knowing he wasn't supposed to cut anything but paper.
Sigh.

 I tried to cut her hair- working with the awkward piece that was missing at her ear level.  After a while it was horribly obvious I was no hair masseuse. I called a dear friend and she came and finished off my uneven, unleveled, shaggy bob.
Eddie cried.
"But, Mom! I loved my long hair."
Me too, darlin.  Maybe next time you won't ask two amateurs (your brother and myself) for a trim.
The beautiful thing is you.  And that hair grows back.
For now you remind me so much of a blond version of these pictures from my childhood. 

If the boy here were shorter, it would be EXACTLY what one would see at our house.  A skinny, older brother with an eager, bobbed, younger sister in tow.

So yes, both she and I will miss her beautiful, long hair.  But she still has her winning smile, her beautiful eyes, and her tender, lovely heart.  How, I love my Eddie girl.