My May girl was about four years old when it became clear to me that if or when children are too quiet there is a disaster looming!

The nonni (grandparents) from Florence were about to come for a visit and I had planned to finish the stenciling I was working on in the entrance hall before their arrival. One afternoon my May girl had a playdate with a little nursery school classmate and they were playing in the garden, just outside the open door near me.

I had been concentrating on my painting progress when I heard…silence! It hit me that there was no noise or girls’ chatter coming from outside.

I poked my head out and, WHAT?! Locks and wisps of my May girl’s shoulder length hair were spread out on the grass and she was sporting a spiky hairdo about a couple of inches from her scalp. Her playdate had brought with her the new ‘cut and style’ Barbie doll and had proceeded to ‘cut and style’ my May girl’s hair with the little pink scissors that came with it; I have to believe with my little girl’s blessing.*

When I finally regained my breath I incredulously asked, “What is going on here?!” “I saw it on TV!” The little girl boldly informed me. “She is NOT a Barbie doll, is she?!!” I exasperatedly answered. “But, the hair grows back! I saw it on TV!”

Silly me! I had forgotten to ask the factory my baby came from to provide hair refills for her like the ones Barbie comes with!

*My little girl didn’t have a mirror while she was being so glamorously ‘styled’; when she finally saw herself you could hear her screams blocks away from us. I thought that either the Police or Fire Department, or both, would show up and I would end up behind bars for child abuse**. I run my little girl to my hairdresser to try and re-arrange her hairdo… as much as it was humanly possible under the circumstances. Don’t forget, her Italian nonni, who hadn’t seen their American nipotini (little grandchildren) for months, where about to visit.

Lesson learn! From then on I wouldn’t stop fidgeting unless there was a ruckus wherever the children were playing, whether it was with playdates or between themselves!

**Now that I re-think about it, a quiet prison cell with a nice book might not have been such a bad alternative to the craziness of that afternoon, and a few others that come to mind…Where is the Police when you need it?!