Keyana almost brings it home again.

[DammitJanet]

Keyana had another pageant yesterday...this time for a county fair. It actually was a zoo that was really mishandled horribly. It was supposed to start at 2. It didnt start till 3 and it was still going on at 9 pm that night! Can you imagine how extremely cranky little kids were getting when you are talking infants through say 7 year olds? Im so surprised at how well they actually do at these things. None of them can possibly be difficult child's!

Keyana freaked out and froze when it came time to do her talent portion. She just couldnt perform. I wasnt upset with her. She is only 4 for gosh sakes. She did much better at everything else though. She got up on stage alone, did the walking alone, posed and modeled and all that jazz. I was proud of her.

Even though she didnt do talent, she did come in 1st runner up. She also took Most Beautiful in her age group, Most Photogenic, and then she got the big crown for being Most Photogenic in the Baby-young miss division.

Personally I think she should get out of pageants and maybe think about still photo work...like ads.

As soon as I can get some pics up on line I will post them. I have got to get some copies of her glamour shots her momma had made. OMG! She is simply beautiful in them.

You guys wont recognize her in these pics. They flat iron her hair now. Its so long and straight with just a bit of curl...lol. My blond, blue-eyed beauty. We are going to be so in for it when the teen years hit!

 

[Hound dog]

Janet I think the move from pageants to ads would be much better for keyana. I don't doubt for a second she'll have any issue with finding "work". Although I wouldn't know how to go about it, our kids pediatrician doctor had all 6 of his kids doing ad work for local department stores. And when I was in grade school I remember someone from Sears visiting and asking for interested students to pose for their ads. The bonus was the kids got to keep the clothes they modeled, on top of the little money they made.

pediatrician docs kids only did the ads because they enjoyed it.......and I'm sure it helped with college funds and the like too lol Those kids were stair stepped exactly 1 yr apart all 6 of them, and they all looked identical to each other male and female.

Our little keyana is a real beauty. And is most definitely photogenic. But honestly, I dunno about the flat ironing her hair......it's hard on her hair (especially for a little girl) and those curls are most certainly something you don't see everyday.

hugs

 

[Fran]

Sounds like she is a beauty.
Pretty cute about not being able to perform. I feel the same way when a group looks at me. LOL.
Give her a hug.
Sounds like pageants, like sporting competitions are grueling on the kids and parents. My sister in law has been unable to go on vacation for years because her daughter is on some sort of traveling soccer team. It takes all their time throughout the school year. Seems excessive to me but she loves it. (She is 14 now and capable of verbalizing her opinion)

 

[Marguerite]

That pageant does sound badly organised. I'm sorry to hear they're flat-ironing Keyana's hair though. I love her curls. She is a cutie.

I know I've expressed my personal dislike of pageants for little kids, but there are aspects to what you describe that are good experience for Keyana. Even the bad organisation. Especially if she sees you not happy with it. My kids (except for difficult child 3) were involved with various dance concerts and performances. Not competitive as a rule, but they still had to perform to an audience and be part of a coordinated entertainment event. The experience of working together, following stage directions, coping with all the reality of it, was valuable. The glamour of it was thoroughly exposed and the kids experienced the whole picture, found out for themselves the hard work side of it all. They'd often also put in some effort to helping build and paint the set as well.

When Keyana sees something like this done well, then sees it done badly, she learns the right way and the wrong way. Over time she will pick up the ins and outs of organisation.

I was never in pageants, but I was in public speaking as a kid. I found it terrifying, but it also gave me confidence as well as the experience of being able to address a room full of people and adjust my speaking voice so I could be heard clearly in just about any space, without a microphone. The presence or absence of an audience greatly changes how you use your voice so you can be understood. An empty room echoes a lot more and you have to adjust your speech to fit. A room full of people damps out the echo and you can actually speak a little faster.

The times of long waiting where you have to sit quietly and be patient - that is a difficult skill for a kid to learn, but valuable. We travelled with books and a small travel chess set. The kids learned to be very patient, even when nervous.

Marg

 

[DammitJanet]

We flat iron her hair because it is almost impossible to work with those curls in a hurry! If you dont have that really curly hair, it isnt something you can understand, and her hair isnt just curly...its kinky too. It isnt soft big curls. Pulling a brush through it dry is really hard on her. We have to use product in it. We dont flat iron her hair normally but when she gets older Im sure she will for herself. Most all of the Indian girls here do.

She does get a whole lot of good things out of these pageants I do think. She is so much more outgoing. She can sit for ages. Of course, she loves to see us in the audience because she knows it means she gets to go home with us...lol. I had to laugh at her last night. As soon as the pageant got almost over she told us she was hungry, we told her we would get her something to eat when we left. Well she wanted something from the midway, so we walked out and saw some place that sold fried corn on the cob. Her momma, step-dad and aunt found us there. Momma asked her...you sure you dont wanna come home with me? Keyana piped up with "Nope!" LOL.

 

[Marguerite]

We flat iron her hair because it is almost impossible to work with those curls in a hurry!

Fair enough. I do know what you mean - easy child 2/difficult child 2's ex-boyfriend had hair like that which he was growing long. We were at our wits' ends trying to find ways to get the knots out and keep them out. We were just about to try coconut oil to weigh it all down. The colour was also stridently red, plus he was almost 7' tall. A friend of ours reckoned he looked like Sideshow Bob!

Interestingly, SIL2 has tight curls. Also long. Growing it longer has pulled out some of the curl and his hair is nowhere hear as tightly curled as exBF, but he still has trouble with it. When he had short hair, he needed to keep it really short. As it was growing, it afro'd. Their kids will be very interesting...

Marg

 

[tiredmommy]

Duckie's hair is no way near as curly as Keyana's but we've found that having her sleep in braids has made our mornings a lot easier.

 

[donna723]

When my daughter was little, that's when we did with her hair too - braids or one big braid going down her back. Her hair wasn't as curly as Keyana's either but it was pretty curly, very long and extremely thick. No matter how tired she was or how tired I was, we always had to braid her hair before she went to bed or the results were pretty comical in the morning. If she ever slept with her hair down, she would wake up in the morning looking just like Gilda Radner doing Roseanne Rosanadana! Or maybe I'm the only one old enough to remember that ...