Remembering his curls

I knew it was only a matter of time before we’d finally break down and get my baby’s hair cut and today was that day. I admit I’ve found myself admiring his curls more and more as his hair grew over the last 19+ months. Like most mothers, I found it difficult to really let go of his curls to finally get his hair cut, so I find myself today remembering his curls and thankful that I took many pictures of them…

Born with a head full of hair
I imagine part of what has been so challenging for me to finally commit to getting Jaylen’s hair cut is because not only do I not want to let go of just one more baby phase that I’ve adored seeing, but his hair is the one thing I remember most since the day he was born. My son was born with a head full of hair and it’s the one thing that many, including myself identified with from the moment I first saw him. Yes, I know, my baby’s hair will grow back – but I have to admit it’s one more connection that made the decision for me a much more reluctant one.

It’s really not his first…
For those that have been following us closely, you may remember, that this really isn’t Jaylen’s first haircut. As much as I came to admire Jaylen’s longer hair as an infant it was frustrating for me to see how his hair grew those first few months. Like most babies he lost some hair and some continued to grow. When he was about five months old we trimmed his “comb over” hair so he didn’t look like a silly old man and really in hopes that it’d grow back evenly.

It was time…
Though this is really his second haircut, the decision was actually more challenging than the first. Over the last year I’ve grown connected to seeing my baby boy and his curls as he grew, and grew, and grew. So to me, this seems like his first haircut because the first one really only trimmed away a couple hairs to even his hair out. But yes, I finally agreed to this decision, despite how challenging it was to commit to. In fact, I bet if Jason hadn’t said he was going to take him today on his own I would have likely continued to prolong the idea of getting his haircut. Jason and I do both generally prefer shorter hair and with the summer rolling around his hair would have only become more of a challenge. The front of his hair has gotten so long over the last few months that getting his hair cut was really inevitable given his age. Now that he’s also in safe start lessons we also found that his hair began getting in his eyes and hindering him during lessons. So combined this has all allowed me to accept getting his hair cut. I imagine you all are more interested in seeing the photos…

Hope was very persistent in the idea of getting her brother’s hair cut. She was excited to finally take him today.

Jaylen sat on Jason’s lap for his entire hair cut. He looked like such a big boy.

Of course I did like always and hid behind my camera and photographed the moment.

When Jaylen’s hair cut was done he got down and looked super happy to greet his daddy who had a huge smile on his face too. I admit that when I saw these two together that Jaylen looks so much like Jason now, especially like the pictures I remember seeing of Jason as a little boy.

Here he is before and after the haircut:

So yes, the curls are gone but he’s still cute as ever. He certainly looks like such a big boy now. I guess there’s no way of ignoring the fact that my baby is growing up.