Marbles and Mashed Bananas

Ever since Thing One was old enough to sit through a book we have been reading Fancy Nancy.  Fancy Nancy is a precocious little girl who likes to use very big words (which she then explains like so), she has a penchant for decorating anything with glitter, ribbons, lace, ruffles, etc.  And she has a disappointingly plain and boring mother—who happens to look just like me in the illustration. In the past three years Fancy Nancy has gotten a posh puppy, discovered bugs, taught us about constellations, taken us to the art museum, and now, this week, she has shown us how to open our very own Oh La La Beauty Spa.

This book came with recipes for a “Fantastique Face Mask” and a “Sea Salt Foot Soak.” Simple things that my five year old daughter has been dying to try. Tonight I came home from work and said yes to a pamper party. We laid out a towel and procured our tools: the giant silver bowl that, I won’t lie, is sometimes used for barf, towels, washcloths, lotion. I even bought a cucumber for the eyes, and marbles to massage our feet in the foot soak.

My little lady was more interested in sticking her feet in the bowl full of water and marbles than anything else, but things got kind of exciting when we moved on to the “Fantastique Face Mask,” wich is a fancy way of saying mashed banana and honey. As it turns out, bananas get sort of liquidy when they are mashed too much. The concoction looked and felt a little bit like something an elephant might sneeze up. Thing One was in hysterics as I glopped it all over her nose. I told her it was ok to eat it, too, but bananas and honey apparently isn’t as appetizing when they are smeared all over your cheeks. . . But that was her turn.

When it was my turn I there were banana chunks immediately running down the side of my neck. Giant squishy blobs slowly making their way into my ear canal. And then she tells me, “Ok, mom. Now you leave the face mask on for ten minutes.” I managed to negotiate my way down to two. Although I now have enough honey in my hair to sweeten five cups of tea, it was totally worth it. My face really is smooth as silk just like Fancy Nancy promised. Oh yes, she painted my toenails. The tiny puddles of pink polish will be dry in about two days.