Hair: Before and After

I have loved Myles' long hair.   It was wild and carefree.  Carefree meaning he did not care to comb it.  I wanted him to develop dreadlocks, but Kim tried to tame it most mornings and sometimes succeeded.  :-)  It really seemed to fit his personality.  It was pretty cute to see him blow his hair, flip it to the side with his hand, or execute a quick jerk of his head to rid his eyes of his hair. I wish I had a picture in it's normal state, but I had already gotten it wet for the event.   

I have always cut our kids' hair.  They have always hated it because it's a sensory overload and they have had a hard time sitting still.  Once, in trying to solve the stress of cutting Myles' hair he agreed to go to someone else, a professional inside a certain store we dislike to the point of feeling exhausted just thinking about entering its premises.  He didn't thrash around, didn't cry, didn't call her names ... but I was not pleased with the results.  I am very capable of giving someone a bad haircut for free, so he has never been back.  As a result, I decided to offer a small financial incentive to the kids every time I cut their hair.  My reasoning is it's cheaper for me and the money stays in the family.  The incentive has only slightly helped.  For the past couple months Myles has said he was only available Monday and Wednesday after school.  When the those times came around his schedule was booked with something else seemingly more important - nothing ...  excuses, excuses.  That's okay, I didn't really want to cut it.  Cutting the kids' hair is still quite miserable, but it's getting better as they get older.  

I was really nervous about cutting Myles' hair this time because it was so long and he's not very patient.  On top of that I'm not very fast because I never went to hair cutting school.  I don't really know what I'm doing. Though, I have been cutting hair since high school.  Anyway, the objective was to clean up the back and sides.  I think the objective was met.  Good thing I practiced on Kim a couple days before, but she doesn't like pictures so I don't have her hair to show off here.  I'm serious!  She finally let me cut her hair and she likes it.   So, I have been cutting my own hair for years since not being able to have my mom do it.  I cut my kids' hair.  And now Kim's.  Here's to being self sufficient.  Thanks Mom.