Rapunzel, Rapunzel let me pull on your hair

This post is a long time coming. It is one of Emma's biggest favorite things and yet here I am just barely getting to post about it. Emma has always been a very tactile child. She loves blankets and all sorts of fuzzy fabrics and different textures. So it shouldn't have surprised me when at about three months old she started to take an interest in my hair. When she would nurse she would reach up and take a strand of my hair and hold onto it and rub it between her fingers. It hasn't stopped since. In fact it has gotten worse. She is a hair fanatic! When I pick her up and hold her she reaches her hand around my neck and gently grabs a piece of hair to hold onto. If she is in my arms she has one hand holding onto a piece of my hair at all times. If someone else picks her up the first thing she goes for is the hair. Brenn's thick beautiful hair is like her dream and whenever she sees Brenn her eyes get big and she smiles and reaches for it. The last time we took her to the pediatrician the lady leaned down to listen to her heart and Em's hands shot out and started touching the women's dangling hair. It is hilarious. About four months ago I had to find a solution for my neck and my scalp. Even though she doesn't hurt it still kept getting my neck stiff. Avery was sitting one day playing with her Ariel doll and combing it's hair into a ponytail when it dawned on me. Give Emma a doll. I handed Emma the Ariel doll and she started putting her hands in the hair and playing with it. She loved it. Soon she wanted Ariel all the time so she could play with the hair. Ariel is Ave's favorite however and so she soon got tired of sharing and asked me if she could please have her doll back now. Off I went on a hunt for Emma's first baby doll. Needing to find a doll with a good sturdy head of hair that was suitable for an infant. After checking WalMart, Target, Toys R' Us, and any other store I could think of I was frusterated. Every doll with hair was not for an infant and all the "baby" dolls for little ones were completely bald. We went to see Tangled which was the cutest movie I have seen in a long time and of course made me think of Emma and her hair fettish. I decided I would find her a Rapunzel doll. Again out I went searching for a cute Rapunzel only to find nothing besides Barbie dolls again not suitable for my infant. Finally starting to think I maybe was going crazy I began negotiations with Ave on the sharing of Ariel. A few days later she came home from preschool and told me that one of the girls in her class had a Rapunzel baby doll with long sparkly hair. It is ridiculous that I quickly called the mom to find out where she got the doll. Disney store....of course! Think MeKell think! So off I went to check out the doll. When I got there with Emma and Avery we found her right away. There she was big doe eyes, little freckled face and seventeen inches of blond hair with sparkly strands in it. I showed Emma the box and she started smiling and kicking her legs excitedly and fussing to hold it. I turned the box around to see that this darling little beauty was, oh yes $24.99. Pausing momentarily I picked up the doll and headed for the counter ignoring the 3+ age sign on the box, deciding that I was good with being crazy. The lady at the counter turned to Avery and said, "Are you getting a new doll? She is so cute." Avery looked at her and then at me as if it was my responsibility to explain my craziness. "Actually I am buying it for her" I pointed down at my eight month old in her carseat. "She kind of has a hair thing I said smiling." Any question about my sanity was sealed by the look on this woman's face as she said, "oh...well that's very nice" and handed me the bag. After I got home Emma was crying to hold the box and it was starting to sink in that I had just bought a $25 doll for my baby that was literally the size of her sitting up. Right. For at least three days the doll sat in the box while I debated with myself about the decision I had made. Everytime we passed the box Emma reaching out and crying for it. Finally I decided that I was taking it back. The doll was for someone Avery's size not Emma's I would just have to keep looking until I found something else. Feeling almost bad for buying the doll, never opening and then returning her I took her back. This decision didn't sit well with me either. After a week Brenn and I were out on a sister day and we went to the Disney store and bought another one. Surely Brenn my sister a person who knows me more than almost anyone would straight up tell me if she thought I was nuts. When we got there she agreed that the doll was perfect and we had a good laugh this time around watching the lady at the check out almost completely repeat the reaction of the first lady from the other store. Completely satisfied and resigned to my insanity now we headed home to Emma to give her the doll. As soon as we got it out of the box she was giggling and reaching for it. Wiggling her chubby little fingers to get a hold of it. As soon as she had it she put it on her lap, wrapped both hands completely in it and smiled at us. It was perfect. It is safe to say that she loves that doll. As soon as she sees it she gets so excited. It is her favorite and goes everywhere with us. She holds it while she plays or when she is tired she will take a strand and rub it on her cheeks or on her face. Sometimes it goes in the car with us or sometimes she crawls around the living room dragging the doll to the side of her by its hair. She loves her. I love that she makes her so happy. My neck and scalp are grateful too. Even though Rapunzel is her favorite she still loves all the dolls in the house. The Ariel's and even the My Little Ponies. When we were up at Grandma's house she sat for half an hour with a lap ful of ponies and rubbed their manes and tails. You should see the doll two months later. When I bought her her hair was all straight and sparkly and smooth. Now it is matted and knotted and clumped together in a sort of dredlock fashion. The other dair I seriously spent thirty minutes trying to comb the dolls hair out. It will never be the way it was at first. I definitely made an improvement but within a couple of days it was all ratted up again. What can I say she is truly Tangled. Emma still loves my hair, she still loves to hold a piece of it as I walk her back to her room and lay her in the crib to go to sleep. It is one of her quirks and it is precious to me. It is just so true to her cuddly, snuggly nature. She is enjoying Rapunzel so much and hey if someone has to go bald better her than me. Sorry Rapunzel.