A Haircut, A Rabbi, And Stitches

The first time we got Jack's hair cut he was 13 1/2 months old. Dave insisted that it was time to cut his hair, and though I really didn't want to cut it, I felt like I had already stalled long enough and I agreed to take him. I was sure that he would wiggle and squirm and cry, but he did fantastic! I was thrilled! 6 months later Dave was bugging me to cut Jack's hair again, so he and I took Jack back to Super Cuts. Jack screamed the entire time, like we were torturing him! He wiggled and squirmed and screamed and it was pretty much a wrestling match to get his hair cut. The kid is soooo strong so it took both of us to hold him still enough that the lady wouldn't cut his ears off! After that, I told Dave that if he wanted Jack's hair cut so badly, then HE would have to be the one to take him! I didn't care if Jack looked like a long-haired-hippie-surfer-dude (Dave's words), it was not worth his screams of terror to get it cut!

So, it's been 5 months, and Jack's birthday is this Saturday and Easter is the day after that. Jack most definitely has been looking like a long-haired-hippie-surfer-dude with his shaggy hair, and Dave has been bugging me again. His hair is covering his ears, getting in his eyes, and curling around his collar in the non-fashionable almost-but-not-quite-mullet kind of way. I reminded Dave of what happened the last time we tried to get it cut, but I finally gave in and decided to take care of it. This time, though, I called my mom! I thought that maybe it was partly the salon setting and the fact that a stranger was the one wielding the scissors added to the problem last time, so I wanted to have him in familiar surroundings with someone he knew this time. Jack adores my mom, and he'll do anything for her, and she has hair-cutting experience so I wasn't afraid that it would look ridiculous (you know, the way it would if I tried to do it!). So, I called my mom, and then Jack and I headed over there yesterday for some hair cutting fun!

Yeah, I should have just left it. Mom hadn't even started cutting yet when Jack realized what we were going to do and started howling like a banshee! The poor kid was in hysterics to the point that it took us hours to get 5 snips of hair off his head! And Jack, who absolutely adores my mom and sometimes chooses her to comfort him rather than me, refused to go to my mom for a bit because he knew that she was the one with the scissors! Even afterward when we had given up and were eating dinner, Jack started bawling in terror when my dad even mentioned the word "haircut"! Poor baby! After that I swore that I was not going to cut Jack's hair until he was 3, because nothing is worth these alligator tears of terror!

The results of that cut are still pending. We got the back trimmed, but that is all. The sides needed to be trimmed very badly, but there was no way we were going to be able to get near them yesterday! So, Jack's almost-but-not-quite mullet is gone, but since we weren't able to get near the sideburn area, he looks like he's an Hasidic Jew with the long peyos. Okay, so it's not actually that long, but it does need to be fixed!




I think it will be okay if we leave the rest of it alone, but those sideburns have got to go! I'm going to try to sneak up on him when he's not paying attention this week to get the sides. It's either that or slick down his hair for his birthday and Easter- and we don't have any gel.

In other news, I just had to pack my husband off to the ER! He took the back end of the hammer to his eyebrow. Yikes! It's not too bad, but he does need some stitches. He drove himself to the ER against my wishes. I told him that if he got in an accident because he's driving with a head injury, then he'd be in so much trouble when he gets home!