Before. And After.

After waiting at least a year, Marley finally had long enough hair so that she could cut off an eight-inch ponytail and donate her long, wavy, dirty blonde locks to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program.  It was an offhand plan of hers ever since she realized she could be like Rapunzel in Disney's Tangled with such an extreme trim.

I will admit that I winced while the scissors were snipping away above that elastic.  Marley's long hair has been a part of her for a while.  She was like a mermaid on the beach in Truro, for one thing, and even though she wouldn't always let me braid her hair, just the other night I made two braids that I pinned on top of her head in a Scandinavian crown, and none of that fun will be happening again anytime soon.

Marley was not traumatized for even one second.  She was immediately happy with her new bob, and kept exclaiming, "I'm cute!" and then running around so that she could whip her (new) hair back and forth.  Sometimes I think she looks older, and sometimes I think she looks younger, and now we're having fun with headbands and clips, and she can still pull her hair back, although that's easier when it's two spunky pigtails.  One of my favorite parts of Beanie's new hair is that she doesn't crumple into a distraught, defiant heap when I ask her to brush her hair. 

And also, her signature gray hat might be even more adorable with those quirky flips of hair peeking out.