Until it came to baby's first haircut.
With the girls, we never had to worry about this...we wanted their hair to grow. I finally caved and cleaned up Piper's shaggy 'do for the first time when she was two-and-a-half, and Fin just recently had her first haircut*, months after her third birthday. So while I knew Miller's hair was getting a little wild, I just wasn't ready to do anything about it. His sweet little curls had just started to feel like his signature...part of his charm, and I just didn't feel right about getting rid of them, even if they were started to veer into mullet territory.
Piper's hair has always been super fine, and super straight. Fin's was slow to grow, but started to come in curly around her first birthday. Miller though...is a bit of a mix. He's got straight, fine hair on most of his head, but the back is all curls. I have a feeling that these are just baby curls...not his permanent texture. Dustin had the same little curls in the back of his hair when he was a baby, but after his first haircut: gone forever.
So I wanted to hold on to his sweet baby-hood for as long as possible. Eventually though the sides started to get long, and crazy, and he had pieces winging out everywhere that even mom-spit couldn't tame. So I finally gave in to Dustin's nudging...it was time for a haircut.
I asked my hair stylist if he thought I could do it myself (because you know I thought I could do it myself) and he had total confidence in me. (and this is a guy who has seen- and fixed- a couple of my previous toddler-bob hackjobs...so if he says I can do it, then I can do it.) Dustin wasn't too sure, but knew it was probably a lost cause, so when I spontaneously announced "Today's the day! Let's cut Miller's hair!" he agreed to assist.
So yesterday, when Miller woke up from his nap, I plopped him in his highchair, (well, him and his beloved Jelly Dog), and went to work. (Ok...I took some adorable "before" pictures, and then went to work).
Dustin was skeptical of my skills (and my equipment) but I remained confident. Miller seemed to be on Dustin's side, and gave me about 30 seconds of patience before wiggling and crying to be done. A pack of fruit snacks bought me another minute and a half of relative stillness, which was thankfully enough to get the job done. I could have probably been even faster if he hadn't kept patting his head and making his "owie" face every time he heard a snip. Little dramatic, buddy.
The obligatory baby hair photo (because I'm not holding on to it as a keepsake):
And the dapper man, after:
Yeah, he's a little teary, but still sooooo cute, right? I mostly just hacked the back off, and tried to trim/blend the sides without chopping off his ears. I left the top alone, lest we end up with a Dumb and Dumber bang situation on our hands. It's certainly not perfect, but it's not bad, if I do say so myself.
Only time will tell if the curls were just a babyhood gift, or if his little locks will grow back in a similar loopy fashion. The good news is...curls, no curls, wild side burns or not...he's still irresistible.
* Fear not, middle-child-defenders...Fin's haircut was treated with ample fanfare, and was thoroughly documented. She got to go to the big-girl salon (aka my hairdresser turned friend, Nathan), which she adored and has been begging to go back pretty much every week. I've got a folder full of photos which will someday get their day in the bloggy-sun, but I'm a little overwhelmed at the backlog of events right now, so I decided to jump in real time with Miller's cut for now.
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