No Alligators Please

As a mother, I have been told before not to try and reason with my young children; that they just don't understand. I can't help it though. I have to explain why I am disciplining them, what they did wrong, what they might have done instead. And yes, I know it doesn't all soak in, but don't worry, I am ready to say it all AGAIN if I need to (hundreds of times really).

So I find it very interesting when I figure out exactly how much of what I say makes it through. This morning, I was washing Ivory's hair. Every once in a while she protests at the washing-hair stage, but I usually don't have any problems with her. I do have the lecture of why we wash our hair in the first place, but I know she hasn't heard it for a long time. Nevertheless, this is what I heard today.

I had just finished washing her hair and I was squeezing the water out when she looked at me and said, "We don't want bugs, or spiders, or alligators in our hair. We don't want any bad people in our hair."

She sure thinks a lot can get in there if you don't wash it. I'm not sure if those were my exact words when I gave her the hair-washing talk, but I am definitely going to add in alligators the next time I give it.