Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Ela's hair is getting long.  See? We can even get it into a ponytail now.  It's very cute when she lets us touch it, but she almost never lets us touch it.  It gets tangly, and she thinks we're going to hurt her.
This week, Ela announced that she needed a haircut.  This surprised me because she hate haircuts, like everything else hair related.  I asked her about it, and she said she needed a haircut and a lollypop.  Then I understood: she remembered that after her haircuts, the stylist always gives her candy.  I figured she'd drop it, but all week long she asked about her haircut.  Her bangs were looking a bit shaggy, so I decided today to take her to get them cut. 

Ela was very excited when I told her we were going to get her haircut.  She kept repeating, "Ela get haircut.  Ela get lollypop." as she put on her clothes, found her shoes, and went to the car.  In the car, she announced she wanted a yellow lollypop.  She hurried into the Hair Cuttery.  It wasn't until they called her back that she realized something important: they were actually going to cut her hair.

As I lifted her into the chair, Ela got pouty.  The stylist was very chill about it.  She gave Ela  a comb to hold and kept up a nice distracting chatter as she separated and trimmed up her hair, starting with the bangs (which are the hardest part).  She talked about the baby, the comb, the pictures on the cape she was wearing to protect her from the hair, the girl in the mirror, and of course, the lollypop.  Ela continued her insistance that she wanted a yellow one, which led us to discussing what flavor it would be.  All the same, we barely got the girl through her trim without a tantrum. 

Finally (really it didn't take that long), the cut was done, and Ela was set free.  Instantly, she was happy again and hurried to the front of the store for her lollypop.  Yellow, as it turns out, is "banana split".  Ela demanded I open it right then.  We paid for the cut and went out the car to go to Target.
At Target (a short drive across the parking lot), I pulled Lily out of her carseat and fed her while Ela enjoyed her treat.  By the time Lily was done, Ela had also finished her lollypop. 

She said she wanted another haircut.

She wanted a blue lollypop.

:::sigh:::