Bye Bye Baby

AJ had his first haircut last week. I know that I keep writing about different events that make him a big boy, but all others pale in comparison to the haircut. AJ cried a little bit at the end of the haircut when the lady was fiddling with his ears, but after we went home and I put him to bed, I went in to make sure he was asleep and cried a little bit myself at the sight of my first baby looking so grown up. The new 'do is without question the most obvious signal that he is a little boy now.

As far as the haircut itself goes, I sprang for the $25 to go to the specialty children's haircut shop with the cars for chairs and the tv screen at each station for the customer's favorite DVD. Joe and I thought it would be worth it for the added distractions/enticements because AJ had watched Joe get his hair cut and hid in the corner the entire time. As a nice bonus, we got a DVD of the haircut experience itself for AJ to watch when he is older. And the traditional lock of his hair for the baby book, of course. AJ was very watchful of his barber as the start of the cut and was completely silent, just taking the experience in. Toward the end of the cut the lady was folding his ear back so that she could get a better angle on his hair I guess, and this completely freaked AJ out. He started sobbing.

The photos are in chronological order to show the before, during and after of the cut. The little scrapes on AJ's face in the first picture are from a fall down our back steps last weekend when it was raining and the steps were slick. AJ had a toy hammer and screwdriver clutched in his hands and didn't let go of his prized possessions when he tripped on the stairs and so broke the fall with his face. It is entirely healed now, though.