The Haircut

My son has not loved haircuts.  From the moment he had his very first one a few days before his first birthday I have loathed the day that I have to take him for one.  His hair grows long and down around his ears, it begins to look all shaggy.  I can tell that it bothers him and tickles the insides of his ears, yet I resist.  I hate the battle. 

We tried everything.  We tried those fancy kids places that charge you $20 a pop and have cars for the kids to sit in and videos for them to watch.  We tried taking our computer and putting on his favorite Dora episode.  We tried bribing with candy, videos, anything...it didn't matter.  Every single time he would cry, sometimes he even screamed.  A few cuts ago we decided to try to have me do it.  Wow...talk about even more tortuous.  The first time I cut it he SCREAMED throughout the entire haircut and Kevin had to hold him just so I could finish and he wouldn't look ridiculous.

His last haircut was better.  He cried when I tried to use the clippers but let me actually cut his entire head of hair with scissors.  Let me tell you...it takes FOREVER to cut that entire hair of head with scissors.  Like almost two episodes of Dora in length.  I did not look forward to future cuts with just the scissors.  It was also kind of difficult to get the haircut to look very nice with just scissors. 

When I came home from South Dakota this week his hair was long.  It was shaggy.  It was around his ears, over his forehead, so long in the back.  I knew it was time again...time to tackle the haircut.  Kev needed his haircut too, so I decided to do his first.  I couldn't even get the clippers to go through his hair.  They were a cheap $12 pair we had bought at Winners and they were proving to be worth even less than $12.  I had only given Kevin two cuts with them and they were already worthless.  Kev went out to London Drugs and bought a new set.  He bought a nice set and the minute that I started cutting his hair he noticed a huge difference.  He said the old pair used to really pull at his hair and hurt him.  I thought maybe, just maybe I could actually use the clippers with Rusty too! 

It was time...Kev's cut was done and Rusty climbed up in the chair.  I started up the clippers and showed him that I could put it on my hand, then put it on his hand, my belly, his belly, etc.  Then I said, "Are you ready?"  He said he was and off I went.  HE DID IT!  He didn't cry!  He hunched over a bit, but with the bribe of marshmellows for each time put his head down for me to get to the hard parts he did it!  The haircut actually looks decent and he didn't cry...not one single time.  He was pretty proud of himself.  He said, "I did a GOOD job with my haircut!"  We gave him ice cream AND a cookie for that one!

Now maybe I won't dread haircuts.  Maybe I'll be able to get to it before his hair is practically in his eyes.  Maybe.

Before:  Cute but VERY Shaggy!

After:  Looking Good!