It all started with a haircut.

Isaac and Annaliese got their hair cut this weekend.  It happened in Lexington with a business we’ve used before, but not our regular stylist.  Isaac’s hair was shaggy and in his eyes and way too long in the back for my liking.  We asked for his hair to be shaped up and thinned out, keeping the basic hairstyle we had.  And she kept the hairstyle, shaggy, in his eyes, and way too long in the back for my liking.  You know, in the shop, it looked ok.  I think it’s whatever they use to clean their instruments, clouds our vision.  We even commented that he looked like Justin Bieber.

But he’s 4, not 16, so the Bieber look was not working for Mama.  I kept saying, I’m gonna trim it just a little bit more.  And never got  around to it.  Which is how this whole issue started, I usually cut his hair or send him to a barber.  I had looked at it for 3 days and by today it was just stressing me out.  I couldn’t look at him without getting upset, the hair hanging over his ears was driving me crazy!

So I got out my scissors, water bottle, and towel and went to work.  Here’s where I learned the lessons.

Number 1 – Don’t go to a stylist you don’t know well and expect not to be very specific in what you want.  I have taken him in the past and said the exact same thing and gotten a satisfactory (to me) hair cut.  I’m sure she does a great job, she did for Annaliese, she just didn’t know what his hair looks like normally.  Totally not her fault, I should have spoken up.  I have a hard time with that.  I sometimes sound really harsh when I don’t mean to, I get it from my Daddy.

Number 2 – Don’t attempt to cut his hair at home if he hasn’t had a nap.  I know a lot of his peers don’t take naps anymore, but he needs one.  If he doesn’t get one, he survives until about 6:00 p.m. and he becomes overly emotional, hyper, uncooperative.  If the hair hanging over his ears weren’t driving me mad (we can talk about my issues later) I would have never done it.  When he doesn’t get a nap, I try to have them headed towards bed at 7:00.  So at 6:15, we sat down on the floor and I began to hack,   I took about an inch off all the way around.  I think the stylist used razor scissors to cut instead of regular scissors.  We made it through with lots of tears, and promises I would never allow her to cut his hair again.  (He hates having his hair combed so 2 cuts in one week is too much for him!)  We went into the bath room to get Marty’s beard trimmer to shape it up.  Everything was going fine, he loves this part, it tickles.  So I’m shaping away, when he begins to prance.  I ask him to please stop, to settle down so I can finish.  Well, then you throw Annaliese into the mix, who is playing Mail Carrier, stuffing “letters” under the door.  He turns as I move in and this is what we got.

Lesson learned.