The Gum Incident

My kids are obsessed with gum. I mean obsessed. I can pretty much get them to do anything they don't really want to do if I promise gum. (Not that I ever do that or anything..I'm just saying they would, for example, happily clean windows if gum was the reward.) I didn't really want to venture into the gum territory and I held off for a long time for my oldest. I think she was like 5 before she had gum. It may have been a grandmother who first gave them gum but I'm not pointing any fingers. The younger two girls had gum much earlier thanks in part to generous older sister(s) and loving grandmothers and aunties who supply the gum habit. My 3 year old is especially fond of gum and generally does a good job keeping it in her mouth. Generally.

However, Sunday afternoon we were sitting at Daisies when a lovely friend sitting behind us said "um...does Julia have gum in her hair?" I am thinking, why of course not, how would she get gum in her. And then I looked. And horror! Yes! It was gum smack in the middle of the back of her hair! Might I point out that this kid was bald until she was 2 and it's only been in the last few months that her hair has really started to grow. We had plans to go meet my aunt in Roanoke Rapids so I couldn't deal with the gum then and there.

When we finally got home a few hours later I addressed the gum. I tried peanut butter and was able to get some of it out. But I had to use scissors and cut most of it out. It seemed to be a huge chunk of hair that came out. Huge. However, I am very thankful that her hair is curly so you can't really tell where I cut. I still can't figure out where the gum came from but I know that they are cut off from gum! Grandmas, Auntie - are you listening??