Re: In need of a cyber hug

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I've been so touched by all of your emails. Wow. Life.

One response I had to staring when was a baby (it's much more rare for her to get second looks these days) was to stare right back -- I'd stick my neck out, open my eyes wide and stare right back at them. (This only for adults who stared, of course.) I think it's perfectly natural to stare, actually ... babies and young ones already normally attract our attention, and when things don't look as expected, the glances are a little longer. However, this " stare back " usually had the effect of alerting the person that he/she was staring, and they would look away in embarrassment -- I think it was good feedback to them that their behavior was making someone uncomfortable. Of course it's not as positive as the smile, which is probably much better advice. But it did make ME feel better!!!

On a positive note...One day about a month ago I was doing my daughter's hair and commented that she looked pretty. She replied back that she was ugly because of her eyes. This was the first time she's mentioned not being happy with her appearance, she's only 6, but I responded back how gorgeous her hair was, how sparkling her personality, that everyone has things about them they don't like but that I think she's very pretty. I suggested that we can feel better about those things we don't like by emphasizing the things we do, and maybe it was time to go get her hair done and buy a new special outfit. She has a lot of self-confidence and makes friends very easily, so I really didn't know it was bugging her. Anyway, I made an appointment with our hair stylist who is awesome, always makes feel like a princess. I told her about 's comment to me when I made the appointment.

Well, when we got to 's hair appointment, the girls were ready. They had a bag of sparkly hair ornaments, and they let her pick out which ones she wanted, they had three girls working on her, they cut her hair, did it fancy with the new hair barrettes, the make-up artist put a little sparkly make-up on her, and the manicurist painted her nails. When they were done, she looked and felt like a princess. All in all, they worked on her for an hour, and at the end they charged me $20.00 for the hair cut only. After some of the stories of HORRID incidences we've been reading, I wanted to post this one as a reminder to us that there really are some wonderfully understanding and caring people out there!

Best to you all, Dawn

P.S. Angie, I will write back. I still haven't checked with regarding posting her pictures. Got to run to work, but I'll write back soon answering your questions about her history.