Look, here's the deal. It's been a long weekend since the snow started early Friday morning and is just now letting up Sunday...just over 2ft. So when Jeremy woke Dad up demanding some Starbucks I wasn't in a position to deny him. Don't judge us, he's happy now this morning (and doing laps around the living room table!)
On Friday January 2, 2009 Jeremy took his first step toward manhood...shave and a haircut! Ok, so the shave part was limited to the back of the neck, but Dad is proud there's that much neck hair already. There were a couple key observations for me that I'd like to share, especially for those friends of mine with their own kids nearing the hair cutting stage.
First - no matter what mom says, she'll be sad and nervous to do it. Yall know how laid back Gretchen is, but she is ALL NERVOUS MOM don't let her fool you. Driving to our local Best Cuts in Erie, PA Friday night you'd of thought we were going to leave him there overnight. She was definitely coming to grips with this as a defining, transitional moment in our young son's life. For the record Jeremy was chilling in the back of the Tahoe watching an Elmo video.
Second - have a plan. We had a pretty solid plan in place if I can say so myself. This wouldn't be the first time Jeremy saw a buzzing trimmer. I've let him stand on the bathroom counter watching me with my beard trimmer numerous times before. In fact, he knows where it is under the counter and has pulled it out many a time pretending to shave himself (don't worry grandparents...I always take off the actual razor head so there's no risk of self inflicted racing stripes).
Another valuable strategy was to let Jeremy see Dad get his haircut first. He loitered around, seeing our stylist (I can't call a young lady a barber for some reason) use every tool she'd use on him on me first. Ms. Chrystal was great too...she talked to Jeremy while cutting my hair so he was both paying attention and to some degree anticipating the same "big boy" treatment like Dad.
All in all it was a great experience. He was eager for his turn, climbing into the chair as soon as I was done. Ms. Chrystal used scissors and he really didn't mind much save for a few flinches when she snipped around the ears. When the razor came out for the final trim the only thing he was mad about was that he couldn't watch her use it. He kept trying to turn around to see as she trimmed his neck!
I talk a big game but I have to admit that it is a big deal for some reason. You are nervous at first because you want them to behave. It is a pretty standard social event, and I know I've given eyes to parents of unruly kids before. Once you are over that (either happy with success or surviving meltdown failure), you look at this kid...almost 2 yrs old, neatly trimmed around the ears and face and you think "wow, he really is turning into a little man." I sure hope I don't screw him up somehow!
The first calm snips recorded as evidence and for general Arnold family posterity...
