No more magic mullethawk

If you hear taps playing in the background . . . it is because a little piece of me has died. Yes folks, Eli has finally had his first haircut. We had a good run, but it had to end some time.

I really was not ready for Eli to get a haircut and was fine with his unruly bangs (or "fronts hairs" as my friend calls them) but Eli's school was having class photos and Kelvey really wanted him to look a little more cleaned up. We tried to find a local barber shop that works well with kids but we couldn't find one that was open after delaying our search for so long. Thus, we ended up taking him to (*sigh*) Great Clips. The lady who stepped up to the task of cutting Eli's hair was very friendly, but a little too boisterous. She immediately freaked Eli out, and he did not want to even sit in the chair. She adapted well, though, and calmly wet Eli's hair with her hands while he was in the comfort of Kelvey's arms. Then, the bitch did something that made my vision blur and my knees buckle. As she raised her scissors for the first cut, she made a bee-line for Eli's bangs. I tried to say, "Wait! Not too much off the bangs!" but the shock of the train wreck unfolding before my eyes had left me breathless. With two quick snips, Eli's bangs had been shorn down to the middle of his forehead. Ugh. It felt more like she was using those scissors to stab me in the heart than to cut hair.

But what was done was done and no complaining could change what happened. Eli got comfortable enough to sit in the chair and seemed enthralled with watching things unfold in the mirror. Then he saw the spray bottle sitting right in front of him. If you don't know already, Eli LOVES to play with spray bottles. He especially loves to spray himself in the face with them (it is easier for him to pull the trigger with his thumbs than his index fingers so he always holds it backwards). So once he started spraying himself, he was completely oblivious to what the lady behind him was doing. Wish I had someone spraying me in the face to take my mind off of what was happening.

In the end, Eli came out looking a little more clean cut, but also a little older and a little pudgier (isn't the first rule of cutting hair: no short hair cuts for people with round faces?). He also tried his first lollipop without the wrapper still on it, so I would say it was a successful adventure. At least for Eli. When we got home, I cried. Really. To me, Eli's bangs were part of what defined him. Without them he looked like a completely different kid.

I didn't mind the duck tail being cut in the back, but it would have been funny to keep it growing.

Check out our flickr page to see before and after pictures.