She is Not Her Hair

Since she was a baby, Temi has liked to grab and hold stuff. When she was nursing, it was my fingers or my shirt. Sometimes if she's laying down she'll reach behind her for Todd. She's grabbed my lips, my chin. The first time her Nana kept her, she grabbed a huge chunk of her Nana's hair. Giving her determination to grab whatever was in reach, it should come as no surprise that she would grab her own hair.

Anyone that's been around her when she's upset or sleepy has witnessed the ferocity with which she moves her chubby hands to the top of her head, forms fists, then proceeds to pull away from her scalp. When she was little I would always find one or two strands of hair between her fingers, plastered to the side of her cheek. But I never thought anything of it.

I knew she liked to pull her hair, but I never saw chunks laying around. And I always attempted to distract her from her hair by holding her hand or soothing her. Apparently it didn't work.

*sigh*

Now my daughter has a huge bald spot in the top of her head. I can attempt to style around it, but it's still there. Staring me down everytime I comb her hair.

It makes me wanna cry. I know it's nothing I did. According to BabyCenter, it's something some kids do and eventually grow out of (their hair too). But it doesn't make me feel any less guilty or bad. It doesn't make me feel any less responsible.

This is the parenting stuff that everyone should warn you about. Not changing diapers. I expect to change diapers. I, however, do not expect to have to invest in Rogaine for toddler girls.