The Haircut

Things I'd rather do with Walker than take him to get his hair cut:

• get vaccines at the pediatrician's office
• get a 3rd set of ear tubes and deal with the "coming out of anesthesia" drama
• take him to the mall for two hours and make him sit in his stroller
• take him to see Santa again
• change his diapers when he has and awful case of diaper rash
• take him grocery shopping during lunch and/or naptime
• take him up and down the toy aisles at Target without letting him get out of the cart
• force him to jump in a bounce house with other kids
• take him to get his ear suctioned at the ENT office (to remove the infected fluid)

And sadly, I think he'd happily take me up on any of these things! Yesterday's trip to Cool Cuts for Kids turned out to be one of the most exhausting experiences he and I have ever had together. And believe me, there have been many. Throughout the haircut, I held Walker in my lap while sweet Ms. Felicia cut his hair. I'm very thankful that neither of us lost an ear or were accidentally sliced by an errant scissor blade. Oh my gosh. Walker sweated buckets, screamed, cried, shrieked, went boneless, slipped down off of my lap, flailed, and basically went ballistic for a solid thirty minutes. He was SO mad throughout the entire thing. I think it has to do with his sensitive little self - he doesn't want anyone touching or pulling or messing with his head. 

This is how Walker ended up at the end of his haircut. Without clothes, rolling around on the super-clean salon floor, and mad as all get-out. He removed his shirt because it was itchy and covered in hair and his pants came off for the same reason. I honestly didn't care...how bad is that? After the appointment, he threw this fit about leaving and being unable to play with the trains. For real!? I was so "done" at this point that I just wanted to laugh at his crazy, out-of-control toddler self. He didn't want me to take a picture of him at all (see him accusingly pointing his finger at me!?) and afterwards, we were both so worn out that the entire car ride home was silent. And the TV came on as soon as we walked in the door so I could further collect myself!

You might be wondering about Lainey. Well, the sensible child that she is...she played independently at the salon, was called for her turn, got her hair trimmed while watching a show calmly and rationally, and returned to playing until Ms. Felicia was done torturing Walker. And she fell asleep on the way home. I cannot say the same for Walker. I took these two pictures in the parking lot while he was still mad at me. I will seriously pay someone to take him to his appointment next time. I know that Ben will take him (or Bud, since he also offered...) and he'll be a perfect angel. I would be so grateful for that job to go to someone else!

The employees at the salon were so kind, and all of the clients coming and going were very sympathetic and sweet. I hope that one day I can be one of those sympathetic and sweet clients, giving understanding words of support and advice to someone with a screaming toddler. That is, if we can ever grow out of this phase...! :)