One happy unicorn

Despite the fact that Aisha (3) is my fourth child, I am so out of my depth when it comes to parenting her. 

She is delightful, funny, witty and so clever. I am amazed at the well-reasoned arguments of which she is capable. Well, amazed and sometimes irritated - because she is the only one of my kids, who at the age of 3, won't simply accept anything I say if she finds it to be illogical. She'll argue and argue until she proves her point.

She is also capable of wit and irony that has us completely dumbfounded. Her funny little sayings often have us in stitches, which then have her older siblings showering her with hugs and kisses.

But she is also the most stubborn and challenging of my kids (with Nuha, 8, coming in a close second). Even the most routine tasks present an uphill battle - dressing, eating, getting into the car - she challenges me at every turn.

She'll only wear very specific clothing items (she won't wear anything she considers to be boyish); she is fussy about what she eats and argues incessantly when I try to buckle her into the car seat. She hates wearing anything with long sleeves and refuses to be covered with a blanket even in the coldest weather. 

Even on Sunday, when Cape Town was covered in hail resembling a blanket of snow, I had to struggle to get her to wear something over her short sleeved T-shirt before we went out.

Cape Town on Sunday : Image obtained here

Cape Town (Sea Point) on Sunday: Image obtained here

And then there's her hair. A while back she wouldn't tie her hair at all. Then, a few months later, she would only have a ponytail positioned exactly halfway down the back of her head the way Nuha wore hers. So when she wanted her hair tied, she'd issue the order saying, "Mommy, will you please tie my hair up and down like Nuha's?" - 'up and down' referred to the place she wanted it positioned at the back of her head- not too high, not too low, squarely in the middle. But since she issued this order so often (as she has her hair tied and retied a few times a day), the order became, "Mommywillyoupleasetiemyhairupanddownlikenuha's" or she'd simply, from sheer laziness,  reduce it to random words in the request, like "mommypleasetieupdownnuha".

But, it is her latest hairstyle preference which presents a bit of a challenge. She has decided that she wants to be a unicorn, so her ponytail or plait has to be placed right in front of her head to resemble an unicorn's horn. 

This morning she wore it to school like this for the first time, attracting curious and amused glances from other parents and teachers alike. 

Yaayyy, long sleeves!!!!!!!

But I am happy - she went to school merrily with absolutely no tears or tantrums. Also, she allowed me to dress her in long sleeves without any arguments at all. So, I'm having a good day, Alhamdulillah. She can don her quirky hairstyle everyday if she would just always be as cooperative and happy as she was this morning.