One of the most nerve-wracking experiences parents face is having their child’s hair cut. Will the child sit still, will the cut be ok, will my child like it, will I like it? In the city of Toronto several small businesses compete for this specialty niche market.

Two of the local players in my area are Melon Heads and Little Tots Hair Salon. After two botched cuts at Melon Heads and almost 8 months without a cut my daughter’s hair was falling into her eyes and she was sporting split-ends galore. It was time to brave another hair cutting experience with my three year old daughter, Kiera.

What does any web-savvy parent do when looking for a place to cut their child’s hair – check for reviews on the internet. Enter Little Tots Hair Salon in the Beaches area of Toronto - “Voted "Toronto's #1 Children's Hair Salon" by City Parent Magazine Poll”. According to their web site, open late on Thursday’s till 8:00pm.

Kiera and I arrive at Little Tots at 5:40pm on Thursday, September 14^th along with another parent and her children whom we hold the door for letting them enter ahead of us. There is only one way to teach manners to a young child and that is by demonstration. However, what ensues next is a lesson in how to be “mannerless,” and two fatal business errors that will cost any small business customers.

Laura, the lady cutting hair does not greet us; instead she says rather gruffly “How many hair cuts?” The lady we let enter in front us says “Two.” I say just my daughter “One”. What follows next is word-for-word our conversation:

Laura: Well, I can’t cut your daughters hair.
Me: Why?
Laura: Well, we close at 6:00pm
Me: I checked your web site before coming it indicated you close at 8:00pm on a Thursday.
Laura: The web site has been out-of-date for months.
Me: Are you sure you can’t squeeze her in, I drove 25 minutes in traffic and just paid money at the metre for parking?
Laura: No, I can’t. We close at 6:00pm, and frankly ANY RESPONSIBLE PARENT WOULD HAVE CALLED THE STORE TO VERIFY THE HOURS ON THE WEB SITE ARE ACCURATE. IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM.
Me: I am sorry but it’s not my responsibility to verify the accuracy of the content of the information on your web site. It’s the responsibility of the owner’s to keep their web presence up-to-date. Further, if you have known the information is out-of-date for months, why wasn’t it corrected by now?
Laura: I don’t have time for this, we are short-staffed today and I have to leave right at 6:00pm.

I just walked right out the door and will never patronize Little Tots Hair Salon in the Beaches.

There are two lessons to be learned from this experience for small business owners. First, your web site is your virtual business presence. It’s no different than the sign you hang on your door with the hours. In this day and age, parents with busy schedules often conduct their research online. If your web site is not up-to-date, it has the potential to cost you customers.

I say “potential” to cost customers because had Laura responded “I am so sorry but the information on our web site is incorrect. I am going to bring it to the immediate attention of the owners to have it updated and prevent this problem from occurring again. Please take a lollipop for your daughter and I hope that you will return to have her hair cut at our salon. Please accept my sincere apology.” I probably would have returned, apology accepted.

Which brings me to the second lesson; customers are never wrong, never at fault and certainly should never be blamed. It was certainly not my responsibility to verify the accuracy of their web site.

This story does have a happy-ending. We walked further down the street to Hair Dynamics and Kiera got her best hair cut to-date. Further, they treated her like a princess giving her lollipops, a blue slushie drink, practiced patience with her wiggling around and even offered me complimentary water, espresso, etc. If you visit them for a child’s cut ask for Nilo, wonderful cut.

Little Tots, I hope you are listening “Customers maybe “hair” today but gone tomorrow.”

Photos of the new cut follow:

Well at long last the review of Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Frank, Kiera (2.5 years old) and I went for three nights, four days in May of 2007. It was EXCELLENT and we booked to return while we were there. In fact, we'll be in three weeks again when my niece Lucy comes to pay a visit from the UK.

Photos from our trip here.

The review

Lobby/Check-In & Out:

Check-in was quick and without issue. Staff was very friendly and well-trained. I loved the wristband to get into the room, lockers, etc and the fact I could link my credit card to it which meant I could also purchase anything I needed with my wrist band. No room key or wallet to carry around and potentially get stolen. If you don't want to link all the bands to a CC - you can link only the adults. You can even load cash to your children's card for them to spend in the arcade, etc.

The Lobby was very well organized and had so much for the children in it. Story time is in the lobby every night at 8pm. Arrive early - it crowds up fast. It opens with the robotic animals doing a story for 20 minutes and then Wylie the Wolf arrives and the storyteller reads two books. Kiera LOVED it.



During the day the kids can press hand prints on the animals and they will talk to them. The lobby also has very comfortable seats and huge fireplace great for relaxing.


(Kiera in the middle with a MEOW face).

We checked out through the TV which was simple and accurate to avoid the lines at check out time.

Room:

We stayed in a family suite, the most basic room available, and it was far from basic. It contained two Queen size beds, a pull, out, TV, Mini-fridge with freezer, microwave, etc. All the amenities we need and a good deal of room. Also had a desk which we placed the laptop on and free Wi-Fi in every suite. The room was great, kept clean by the staff and we were very happy with it.

Food/Restaurants:

We did not have breakfast in the restaurant but heard from other guests it was excellent. Instead we brought up food for breakfast and stored it on the counter and in the fridge. We also brought up snacks with us, etc to reduce on the costs of buying food on site. Kids 3 and under eat free.

One night we have Pizza Hut, and the other two nights we ate the dinner buffet which was a really good value. The children's area is at a height they can help themselves and contained peas, corns, mac/cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, french fries, etc - even the pickiest child can find something to eat. The adult buffet was impressive, roast sweet potatoes, stuffed peppers, striploin, blackened catfish, salmon, stirfries, soup, salad bar, desserts - there was NOTHING deep-fried on the adult buffet which is such a refreshing change to the usual crappy fried buffet fare. The meals change every night on the buffet - so it's not the same two nights in a row.

Waterpark:

No need to bring your own towels - they had plenty to supply you with. If you needed a locker - you could activate one for free with your wristband. There is a shop that sells anything water related you may have forgotten that seemed to have prices comparable to the mall - aka they were not ripping you off. They also have a limited number of free life jackets for use.

I loved the water park - there were more life guards present then I think were needed but that made it very safe. Older children were not permitted in the toddler area - no running around as a result. I could sit in the water area which is only 18" deep and watch Kiera exit, climb the stairs, come down slides on her own, land on her own, and repeat without the need to chase behind her and hold her hand for safety. To me, this speaks volumes as to how safe the waterpark is. It also made it a very enjoyable and relaxing vacation for Frank and I.



There was plenty for a child of 2.5 years old to do - Kiera even went on a large water slide with us in which you sit in a orange round raft and come spiraling down a massive tube from the top of the resort that winds outside and then back in the resort. She loved it and we went on it a lot.

The wave pool was nice. The swimming pool was great with these docked floating animals for the kids to climb on. The lazy river was a lot of fun also. And the tree fort with splash areas, etc was a hoot.

Other Activities:

We did not go to the arcade but it was always full of people and seemed to have so much to do.

The Cub Club was awesome and we spent a fair amount of down time there. Kiera loved getting her face painted every day - for FREE. And there are plenty of free activities, painting, drawing, stickering, etc to do. As well as, foam blocks, tree house, and some paid arts and crafts which were again fairly priced IMHO.

The Spa:

Mom went to the Aveda spa for a lovely hot stone massage whilst Daddy and Kiera napped. It was heaven :)

In conclusion, I highly recommend a vacation at GWL Niagara - and we're going back in three weeks time!

Honestly, it was the most relaxing vacation we have had as a family - more relaxing than going to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. There was just so much entertaining Kiera that she never acted up, never got bored, was always safe, that we could just sit back an enjoy being together in such a great setting.

We're going to make GWL at least a once a year visit for our family - maybe we will see you there!

Mommy where do the birds sleep?
Mommy where do my socks sleep?
Mommy where does my pee pee sleep?
Mommy where do the trees sleep?

Everyday it's a new set of questions :)

Kiera appears to have a boyfriend/special-friend, if that's what would you call it just shy of three years old.

T calls her his princess and she calls him her prince. They are frequently spotted holding hands walking together, hugging and the occasional peck on the cheek.

It's actually quite sweet to watch the two of them.

We appear to be in a phase of Kiera's development where she is interested in what everything eats.

What does a frog eat?
What does the sky eat?
What does the moon eat?
What does the roof eat?
What does the toliet eat?
What does water eat?
What do the tadpoles eat?

And I thought "Why?" was difficult to answer!

We have been having some massive "Separation Anxiety" issues with Kiera as of late until we stumbled across this book: Mama Always Comes Home.

Description:

Mama Bird and Mama Cat and even teensy-weensy Mama Mole must leave their little ones from time to time; but in the end, mamas always come home.

Karma Wilson's reassuring text, paired with Brooke Dyer's colorful and comforting mother-child illustrations, shows that -- rain or shine, in a tree or in the sea -- mamas everywhere find their way home with cozy hugs and lots of love, because Mama Always Comes Home.

Excellent  book and I highly recommend it if you have separation anxiety issues with your little ones. It's worked for us.

For a while now Kiera has been telling us she wants to be a firefighter when she grows up - to the HORROR of her grandmother :)

But as of this week, Kiera has changed her mind to a profession I am sure grandma will find more suitable.

Kiera now wants to be a teacher. But she also wants to be a teach with "a baby in her belly" like Donna the ECE worker at her daycare. So sweet.

It's a tie!
	You are part Cinderella. You are hard-working and never complain, however, your trust is sometimes misplaced and people sometimes take advantage of you. Still, you are beautiful inside and out, and one day you will realize it and find true love.
	You are part Pocahontas. You defy convention and sometimes do what is considered taboo. Unfortunately, others do not always appreciate your differences, so it's good that you are so strong-willed. You are loyal and you believe in fate. Your true love will find you one day.

Which Princess are you? http://www.brainfall.com/test6_1.php

The little lady held her first tea party this past weekend - princess themed. I remember swearing up and down if I had a girl she wasn't going to be "into princesses". As I have quickly learned as a parent - its impossible to predict how you will parent and never say never ;)

Photos are online here: http://www.abstrakt.org/baby/gallery/teaparty07

Some of my favs: