The new old Clio

I took the girls to get haircuts this past Sunday morning.

That “s” on “girls” is a very big deal, as Clio hasn’t had a haircut in over two years — not counting the one where we buzzed off what was left of her rapidly thinning hair six months into her treatment.

She took the whole hair loss thing with such stoicism. I mean, she was self-conscious sometimes for sure, and I don’t think she exactly liked being bald or, later, having very short hair. But it wasn’t something that she was outwardly upset / sad / angry about.

These days, though, she’s very eager to get her hair back to looking the way it did way back when she was a healthy five-year-old: A cute, pin-straight bob. This is what it looked like:

(Worn in this case with particularly goofy expression. I think it’s her “take the damned picture and get me off this bogus Santa’s lap, please” face.)

I’m not sure her hair is even capable of looking like that again at this point; the texture is too different — thin and coarse instead of  thick and straight. But there’s some new hair growth coming in now—I can see it along her hairline, soft and straight—and maybe in time the texture will eventually be what it used to be. Or maybe not.

Really, all she needed on Sunday was to have it neatened up a bit, so it wouldn’t look quite as scraggly.  The hairdresser — who was very sweet — blow dried it so it actually looked almost bob-ish. She advised me, “when you blow dry her hair, just use a little 1-inch brush like this.” Riiigggghtt….”when” I blow dry her hair…..

Classic pensive Clio expression.

It’s a bob! Sort of!

Anyway, two days hence, her hair doesn’t look much different now than it did before the cut. But I think it made her happy just to be doing it — to feel like she had hair enough that it merited cutting! That’s worth $13.95, as far as I’m concerned. (As for Elsa — well, Elsa would grow her hair down to her feet given the choice, knots and snarls be damned. So in her case, I paid $13.95 to make her cranky. But it’s worth it to lose those extra two inches of tangle-prone hair.)

There are other ways that we’re seeing glimpses of “the old Clio,” though I hesitate to call it that, since it’s not like the “old” Clio ever went away. She’s been with us all along — growing and changing and being her Clio self.

That said, her face is looking decidedly less swollen, and her pasta belly is gone. She definitely has more energy now, and as a result, we’re seeing more of her crazy silliness. No one believes it, because she’s so reserved and even shy around other people, but the girl is a riot. She makes all of us — and especially Elsa — crack up on a regular basis. She’s got great range as a comedian — from clever wordplay to good old fashioned booty-shaking dances (Elsa’s favorite).

She still doesn’t walk or run as fast as she used to. She still wants to go to bed early. But more and more, she just seems like a regular, healthy kid. Which is awfully nice.  (Now excuse me while I go knock furiously on some wood.)