When a haircut isn't really a haircut

Remember when I wrote this? I was struggling about whether or not to get Ryan's haircut. I didn't want for my little baby boy to get his hair cut and start looking like a little boy instead of a baby. Well, Saturday night, while I was at work, that decision was taken out of my hands.


Sunday morning Jon let me sleep in. When I got up, he brought me coffee and I went downstairs to say good morning to the kids. Sitting, drinking my coffee, I looked at Ryan playing on the floor. Looking closer, I noticed he looks a little different.

Me: Jon, you cut Ryan's hair, didn't you?!

Jon: I just trimmed the front. It's not a real hair cut.

Me: You gave him his first haircut after I specifically asked you not to do it!

Jon: Diane, It's not a real haircut. It's not a big deal.

Me: If it wasn't a big deal, then why didn't you tell me?

Jon: The hair was in his eyes.

Me: So. Did you save any of the hair?

Jon: No.

Me: I am so upset about this.

Yes, I did make him feel guilty enough that he dug in the trash and found some hair clippings. All has been forgiven (shh! Don't tell Jon, Ryan does look really cute), but Ryan will now have to get his "real" first hair very soon.

Here is Ryan's "not really" very first haircut …

A hairy mess

I have a problem. Ryan needs a hair cut. It will be his first hair cut and I'm afraid to get it cut. Every single day someone reminds me that his hair is getting long. Yes, it's in his eyes, and yes, it is crazy-looking, but I love it. I love every part of it. I love the way it smells. I love how soft it feels. I love that it's a little shaggy. It is pure baby and once it's gone, it's gone for good.

Jon has threatened to cut it himself if I didn't get it cut. It's not an empty threat either, he will cut it. He once cut Sophia's hair and I freaked out about it. But he's not afraid of my wrath. I know he'll cut Ryan's hair if I don't do something about it soon.

But I don't want to cut it. After it's cut he's going to start looking like a little boy instead of my little baby.

I'm not ready for that.

I'm not ready for my little baby boy to become a big boy. I love his hair, in fact, I might never cut it.

More than just a haircut

My sister cut Sophia's hair for the very first time. I think she likes her new "do."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Easter was this weekend. It was cute and we ate lots and lots of candy and hunted for Easter eggs. But the real star of the weekend wasn't the Easter Bunny, it was Sophia's first haircut.

It's taken her 20 months to grow enough hair to justify a haircut and once we decided it was time to cut it, I couldn't wait for it to happen. In fact, I've been bugging my sister for months now to cut her hair.

One of my sister's many talents is cutting hair, so it was important to me that Carol was the one who gave my daughter her very first haircut. Plus, I was certain Sophia would freak out during the process and I thought if Carol did it, the whole experience would be much more tolerable and hopefully make the hair cut experience a pleasant one.

On Saturday, my sister drove more than 300 miles to my house with her two sons for our pre-Easter dinner and to cut Sophia's hair. At about 3 p.m., my parents also came over and we were all together, ready for the big snip.

We sat Sophia at the table and handed her a piece of white chocolate (her favorite special treat) and my sister got to cutting. With a comb and scissors in hand, my sister cut the first lock of hair and handed it to me and I started crying like a baby.

This reaction was completely unexpected and I couldn't stop it. I didn't stop crying until the haircut was over. So, with my entire family laughing hysterically at my crying, we cheered Sophia for sitting like a big girl while my husband handed her one piece of chocolate after another. We videotaped the entire haircut and probably took 50 pictures.

By the end of the haircut, Sophia was hopped up on sugar and ready to run around and play with her cousins.

Sophia's hair looks beautiful and I learned how emotional something like this can really be. This haircut symbolized my little baby girl becoming a big girl. Her little baby curls that fell exactly where nature put them are now little bangs. It also symbolized the day I realized I am going to HAVE to learn how to do something with her hair besides brush it.

Sophia will never remember this haircut, but I will never forget it. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I'm pretty sure if my sister couldn't cut hair, Sophia would never have gotten a haircut. I think Sophia was happy with it too.

My not-so girly girl

When do little girls start to like to do girly things? Sophia hates getting her nails cut. She completely freaks out. I feel like I'm torturing her because we have to hold her still to cut them. It's emotionally and physically painful for both of us, but it has to be done.

This weekend, in the midst of everything that went on with my son, we had to cut Sophia's nails. They were starting to get dangerous. So I pulled out some nail polish, a nail file and the nail clippers and sat on the floor with her and tried my best to make the experience fun.

It was an absolute failure.

She was interested in the nail polish, but only if she was doing the painting … all over her feet. Not a single drop got on her nails. She wouldn't let me near her nails. After 45 minutes of trying to get her to play manicure, I caved and just held her down and cut them because she can't go to daycare with daggers for finger nails and I had other things to do that day.

It's the screaming that gets to me. I feel awful, but it's a basic hygienic need. How do I get her to enjoy the experience? She wasn't always like this. I used to be able to put on an Elmo video and cut her nails in no time. Elmo can't even save me now. She hasn't even had her first haircut because I am so nervous about how she will react. Fortunately, her hair has been slow coming in, but my time is running out and she is going to need one very soon.

She's obsessed with shoes, in fact, shoe was one of her first words (that's MY girl!), but that's as girly as she gets. She did let me put pigtails in her hair once (see photo as proof), but they were short-lived and I think they made her crazy.

She is perfectly happy wrestling on the floor with my husband. She loves being thrown in the air and she loves to be startled. One of her favorite games is hide and seek when the hider jumps out and scares her. This boggles my mind, shouldn't she be at least a little scared? Nope, she loves it and she is always hiding herself and jumping out and trying to scare us.

I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer and if it never happens, that's OK. I guess she doesn't have to be a girly girl.