the haircut

obligatory pre-haircut photo:

sam woke up after his nap yesterday looking very sweaty, so i finally decided it was time to say goodbye to his glorious head of blond curls. as much as i was enjoying them (and i was, let me tell you), he clearly needed a summer trim. plus, i was getting abit tired of everyone asking when i was going to give this boy a haircut.

so, armed with at least half a dozen hershey kisses, i put the step stool out on the driveway and attempted to snip away at a very wiggly sam. overall i don't think it looks too bad, considering all the screaming and head-grabbing the boy was doing. yes, i did give him a little jab with the scissors once or twice, but it could hardly have been avoided on my part (unless i'd given up about halfway through). i needed daddy's help for the final few snips. even so, i think there are a few long pieces. i try not to look too hard for the mistakes.

and now he looks like a big boy. when he walked in the room this morning i did a bit of a double-take and my heart gave a little twang.

things that sam is doing lately that remind me that he is growing up—he is:

• choosing his own clothes. he's done this for a while (mostly the "no, not that" variety of choosing), but now he puts on his own crocs (which i bought for him for the very reason that he can don them himself. otherwise he'd be pulling on rubber boots in 90 degree weather because he likes to do things "self"). he also picks out his own hat (which sometimes means a summer outfit and a warm winter hat). it is entertaining.
• climbing in and out of the car on his own. and heaven forbid you might try to help him without a specific request first.
• using words with syllables. well, sometimes. we're still working on "ba-na-na" vs. "banna", but he's doing a lot more real words and phrases. we've come a long way from the "no monkey bed!" phase.
• telling us what he wants. unless he's upset. if he's frustrated, he will scream bloody murder. our daycare let us know that he needs improvement in asking for help. thanks, but we already know. our attempts at anger management have thusfar been less than successful, and we surely appreciate the reminder that sam is indeed not perfect. but figuring out what's for breakfast has become LOADS easier.
• able to touch BOTH the pedals on his tricycle. he still doesn't get the whole pedaling thing, but at least he's got spots to put his feet so that they're not dragging on the ground for blocks.
• hmmm....there's probably more and i'll think of them later. perhaps we'll just call them fodder for another post.

obligatory post-haircut photo: