Poncho hair

I work close enough to home that I'm able to eat lunch with Andrea practically everyday. It's a much-needed break from the harsh deadlines and assistant interferring that ensues throughout the rest of my day.

Yesterday we had to swing by Ava's school because I had forgotten to put her milk money in her lunchbox. Andrea and I knew that they would allow Ava to get a milk anyway and to put it on her "tab", but it gave us an excuse to see Ava at school, see how she's doing and see her interact with her friends.

When we pulled up to the school, all the kids were outside for recess. Apparently, since the school is going through some renovations -- including the playground area -- recess right now is basically all the kids hanging out in front of the school, running around and chasing one another with no elaborate jungle gym to climb on, fall off of -- no big objects to play on or hide behind (a few trees, maybe). Just a big bunch of kids running around left to their own devices. The teachers are watching all this mayhem, of course, but it's quite a peculiar scene if you don't know the backstory.

We sat there briefly to watch the loud and wild scene. I tried to locate Ava but couldn't find her. "Where is our girl?" "I don't know... you don't see her?" "No."

Just then, Andrea caught a glimpse of magenta flying through the little people. "There she is," Andrea said with a chuckle. I looked and saw a bright red shape moving about the crowd, arms stretched out wide, like an airplane. It was Ava and she had her magenta poncho covering her head, with only her bright little eyes peeking out through the hole. This was her "hair," she told Andrea. She had pulled her sleeves down to where she covered up her hands, which were firmly gripping the sleeves tight. This is what she looked like:



When Andrea walked up to her, Ava jumped up into her arms and gave mommy a big ol' hug, never taking the poncho off her head. When she had enough of mommy-love, she immediately got back down and instantly took off, tassled poncho hair madly blowing in the wind.

Ah, to be a kid again and not worry about social graces or being "normal." I was only a little concerned about Ava's social interaction with other kids before yesterday, but now I'm terrified.

Honestly, I do kinda like the idea of grabbing a poncho and putting it on my head all day at work. I really don't think anyone would notice.