I love to do little girls hair, and Hannah loves to have her hair done. She has been with us for almost 5 months, and has only had her bangs trimmed, no other haircuts.

Hannah’s first adoptive mom did not do her hair, and I’m not saying that to be critical. Hannah was not a kid that you really wanted to do things like that with. More than likely she would have ripped them out just to be spiteful.

One time when Hannah was here for respite, she was doing some pretty good raging. Her hair would be stuck to her head since she was sweating from all the raging. I told her I was going to put her hair in ponytails so it would make it easier for her to have her fits. That threw her for a loop.

With the progress that Hannah has made, we now do her hair almost every day, just because it looks cute, not because she’s having fits. It’s a fun time for both of us. We check out books from the library on how to do braids, I knit fuzzy, fun little pony tail holders for her, and we talk while I’m doing her hair. It’s a great bonding time, and I’m happy to have a little girl that I can do this with.

Hannah has made enough progress that she’s going over to spend some time at the home of her “best friend” after pre-school today. We have our monthly team meeting for Sammy today, and the meeting will be going at the time that Hannah gets out from pre-school. She and this little girl, S, have become fast friends. They are adorable together.

If Hannah were not as far along as she is, I would not contemplate this for a second. I would pull her early and take her along to the meeting with us, but since she’s at a good spot right now, she gets to spend part of the afternoon with her best friend. To say the girls are excited would be an understatement.

We may experience a little bit of PTSD since S’s father will be the caretaker, and Hannah's abuser was male. He is a stay-at-home Dad, and her Mom works during the day. We have discussed this ahead of time, as well as proper manners to use at someone else’s house, and how long she will be there.

I am happy to see my little girl have a real friend. In the past she considered anyone who talked to her to be her friend, so when she talked about S I had my doubts. One day when I dropped her off at school, S was arriving at the same time. They ran to meet each other, held hands and walked into school together. She has a REAL friend.

This picture was taken this morning with her hair done and her obvious excitement about going to her friend’s house.