Life With The Shirleys: sweaty haircuts

The Mayor got a haircut today. And usually a picture would be posted of his new do, but this picture speaks volumes to how the haircut went. What you are seeing on the back of his shirt is not wet from water, it is wet from sweat. Today, for the first time ever, I was mortified at my child's behavior.

I do not get embarrassed at all when or if my children act out in public. Every single child does it...my kids are no exception. So people who are around us either get it because they have been there/done that, and if they haven't yet had the pleasure, then they will. And if they do not ever have kids, then I don't really care what their opinion is anyway. But today was crazy.

We have been going to the same kids haircutting place and seeing the same person since The Mayor was 14 months old. He sits in the same chair, eats the same lollipops and watches the same TV every single haircut since he was 14 months old. And we have never had an issue. But today The Mayor was not interested in sitting in the chair. He fought getting into that chair and getting the cape put on him. I asked him if he wanted to hold my hand, and he said yes, but the second the scissors started cutting, he started screaming. I asked him if he wanted to sit in my lap, and he said yes. So I grabbed him, put him on my lap and sat in one of the chairs. He screamed bloody murder for the entire haircut. You would have thought he was being stabbed by the scissors. I had to hold his arms down and his head still while our poor hairdresser frantically tried to get this haircut over with. The Mayor screamed and screamed and screamed and the few mothers in there just "awed" and "poor babied" us while the screaming continued. This screaming wasn't like "I want that toy" screaming, it was like "you are ripping out my toenails one by one" screaming. It took only the great grace of God that The Mayor and I came out of this haircut unscathed. I seriously considered leaving him there...or beating him. He had sweat dripping off his face which meant all the little hairs stuck to his face and his arms and his mouth. He and I were just covered in hair.

After the disaster, we went into the bathroom and attempted to wash as much hair off of each of us. As we walked to the bathroom I counted to 10 (about a dozen times) and took in some deep breaths. I didn't want to scream and I didn't want to spank him. But I wanted to get serious with him. While essentially bathing ourselves in the bathroom, I had a very short, simple and stern talk with him on his behavior. After our "bath", I made him go up to Derick (the poor soul) and apologize. We rode home in complete silence and then we both had to take a shower.

And on another dramatic note with my children...Love Bug bit The Mayor today! What the? Love Bug was attempting to destroy The Mayor's train track. The Mayor put his hand on top of the track and politely (shocker, sometimes he really can be nice) asked her not to. Apparently, Miss Priss did not like this because she looked at me then looked at him and opened her mouth. Luckily only 4 teeth are completely in, but there were 4 little teeth marks in The Mayor's forearm. He looked at me like "did that just happen"? She didn't like being told no when it came to biting and naptime for her came early. She woke up 3 1/2 hours later...my old sweet girl. Let's hope this doesn't become a pattern.

So happy this day has come to an end and the kids are sound asleep. Hoping today will be a funny memory one day and tomorrow will be awesome.