In Which Connor Gets A Haircut And Turns 278

My child doesn't grow in years.  I swear he grows in haircuts.

I usually wait as long as I can possibly stand before I take Connor in for a haircut, partially because I don't want him to develop a distaste for the barbershop, and also partially because I love those little ringlets he gets at the back of his neck when his hair gets really long.  But his bangs were drifting down into his eyes and we were once again starting to get the "what an adorable little girl!" comments, so I knew it was time. 

I always get Connor's hair professionally cut (other than that one disastrous time when I allowed Jeremy to buzz all of it off) because Connor doesn't really like to stay still for his haircuts.  At all.  I have the sneaking suspicion that if I attempted it at home he'd not only end up with a haircut that looked like I'd handed our cat the shears, but he'd probably be missing some key appendages such as ears.

Anyway I took him in to the stylist today (I snapped that picture just before we walked out the door) and the poor woman earned every single penny we paid her.  Connor lunged around my lap at random minutes despite all my attempts to hold his head still, basically turning haircutting into a contact sport.  She did a masterful job all things considering, and Connor left the store with both ears intact and, as is usual with him after a haircut, looking about 278 years old.  I swear I watched the stylist sweep up little bits of his boyhood along with all that discarded hair. 

Do all boys go through this kind of transformation with every haircut, or is it just my little guy?  I guess maybe long hair makes people look younger or something, but as I was strapping Connor back into his wheelchair I looked at him and thought-- whoa, he's four and a half next month.  And you can tell that he's going to be four and a half, too.  I was kind of weirded out by this; I'm used to him looking so much younger than his peers.  Now suddenly it's pretty obvious that Connor isn't a toddler any more. 

Of course not everyone shares my opinion.  I took him to the grocery store after his haircut, and a boy in his early teenage years pointed Connor out to his little brother, who couldn't have been older than two.  "Look at the baby!" he said.  I actually looked around for the baby before I realized he was talking about Connor.  So I guess maybe my view of his venerable old age is kind of biased, though in the end it doesn't really matter what he looks like on the outside; he'll always be my baby no matter how old he gets.

Even when he's 278.

~Jess