Astrid giving Mommy a deep conditioning treatment

Astrid's Hair Salon

This is something new that Astrid does now. She doesn't care about her bath toys anymore, but she's all about playing with our hair. The moment she gets into the bathtub she wants to stand behind us to comb our hair over and over again.

She uses my large comb, applying shampoo or conditioner. She's gentle so we let her and she also uses her hands, running her fingers through our hair. She loves doing it so much that she can stand there for 20-30 minutes at a time and never gets bored with it. (U. thinks he can read the newspaper while she's doing it - but hasn't tried it yet.) I have to tell her to sit down in the water (to get warm) and relax for awhile.

From sitting in the water so long we get all shriveled up, but she doesn't want to stop. In fact sometimes it's a struggle to take the comb away from her afterwards. But since she loves it so much, both U. and I will sit with her as long as our shriveled hands and feet can stand it, so the baby can continue her fun.

Astrid's first visit to a hair salon

Astrid visited her first hair salon today. No, she didn't get her hair done (not enough hair yet), but she watched mommy get hers done. Riley, a talented hairstylist at a salon in Westwood offered to do my hair today on really short notice AND said it was okay to bring Astrid. (Thank you Riley!) Now I'm all set to take photos with my graduating 5th graders tomorrow. And no more drab Hausfrau hair! The salon is inside a funky building built in the 1920's and Riley said that in the 50's it was an apartment building. There's no sign out front and no indication that it's a salon. There's only the address 1140 above a large door. The interior has brick walls and nice hardwood floors. Now the rooms on one floor are used as private rooms for individual hairstylists. (The location is 1140 Westwood Blvd. in LA 310-824-4545.) Riley does great hair and you can't beat her prices.

Since it's an old building...yep you guessed it...it's a walkup with no elevator. It was no simple task getting Astrid up those stairs in her stroller.

Riley did a great job accommodating me and Astrid. She cut, colored and blow dryed around her like an old pro as I bounced Astrid on my knee. (Here she is standing behind us. Hi Riley!)

Astrid got compliments for being a good baby. She cried some as expected, but for the most part she was content when held. And the blowdryer didn't bother her one bit. (That's my girl!)