Smurf Boy

My girl Epi put some purple streaks in her hair - which I LOVE. The 'Poiple Ppl' club has a new member!



The downside of her new look is that her lil' darlin', She Who Rules, is now asking for purple hair too. It reminded me of a story from my past....



Urbaner was deployed to the Middle East at the time. He'd only been home from one deployment for 4 months when he got redeployed, and it affected the kids quite a bit. Numbah Two in particular felt his absence, he was pretty close to his dad back then.



Numbah Two was in first grade at the time and had a male teacher, which is something that I am eternally grateful for. Mr M was EXACTLY what NT needed, he was a constant, unwavering male influence when NT's dad was gone and he didn't let NT get away with a whole lot.



NT, like most boys his age, exhibited signs of hydrophobia. That kid destested the shower. I mean, he really hated it and I had a heck of a time getting him to bathe or clean himself. He never went to school stinking, but it still bothered me that I had to fight so hard to get him to shower, so I had a chat with Mr M and he, in turn, had a chat with NT. I think NT took one shower without complaining too much, and then we were back to square one.



NT had wanted blue hair for a while (he is his mother's son, after all :-) ) and I had been putting him off and off on it because I didn't want him to have permanently blue hair. One day, whilst perusing the aisles in the drug store, I spied a can of spray in/wash out hair color. It was the answer to the problem.



I bought it and took it home and showed it to NT. I said that I would give him blue hair whenever he wanted, but that he had to wash it out before he went to bed....and that didn't mean simply sticking his head under the faucet, it meant getting naked and in the shower. I said the first time he balked at getting clean to get it out would be the last time he had blue hair.



He agreed. The next day he got up for school and I dutifully sprayed his hair blue. He was ecstatic and went off to school a very happy camper. When he came home - still with blue hair - he ate supper and then went and got in the shower without my having to even ask him or remind him of the deal. When he was done he told me that Mr M had initally been disapproving, but had dubbed him 'Smurf Boy' after he (NT) had explained the situation about the shower to him and that Mr M said 'ahhh...I see. Your mom's no dummy, is she?'



No, I'm not a dummy. NT got blue hair, and I got a clean kid. Win-win situation, as far as I'm concerned.



I just wish Urbaner had taken it as well.





(incidentally, each of my 'lings have had funky hair color. NT went on to have permanent red streaks in his, FTS had 2 turquoise stripes in hers and Littlest Ling had Midnight blue highlights in his last summer. I guess they take after their mom ;-) )