Don't Proffer Information About Valuable Family Heirlooms to Strangers

I took a few months off from blogging (accidentally), and during that time Jones had his first haircut! He was looking really shaggy, hair covering his ears, a parental negligence mullet in place, so we finally got it together long enough to go up to see my grandparents and let my grandfather, Papa, give his great grandson his first haircut. Papa owned and operated a barber shop in North Little Rock for years, and he's the best you'll ever see, and he did such a good job with Jones. It was a really special thing, Papa getting to give him his first haircut (he also did my first haircut, although I was considerably older than Jones, since I was a girl and therefore my hair got to grow out for a while).Our first obstacle was finding something for Jones to sit in - he's obviously too short for just a regular chair (the backs of all of the chairs, including his high chair, which we originally thought we'd use, come up over his head, making it impossible to cut his hair in one).  So, we improvised and put a portable high chair on top of some pillows and a stool (more stable than it sounds) and then belted him into place with a belt (donated by Grammy :o)).

Papa started out by showing him all of the tools he would be using:  the scissors, the clippers, the comb, etc.  He let Jones touch them and feel them.  Then he got busy chopping - I've never seen scissors fly so fast and so skillfully!  Periodically, Jones would turn his head and try to get a good look at Papa - as if to say, "Hey, what are you doing back there?"  Papa would always say something along the lines of "Hey there baby, it's just your Papa back here, it's just me, just cutting some hair."  He used a really calm, soothing voice, and it settled Jones down every time and he would turn back in the chair and look forward again (I was standing in front of him, providing a focal point/distraction to the business going on around his head).

This is about the point on the whole affair that Jones was starting to be over the whole experience.  He was starting to get fussy, so I started singing "Old MacDonald" while holding his hands.  Jones loves that song, and it will almost always work to distract him and get him to laughing and cause him to forget what he was so upset about.

The finished product!  He's not as upset as he would have you believe, he was just tired of being held captive while so much was going on around him and he was sleepy (we headed home right after this and he was asleep by the time we got down my grandparents' driveway).  He looked so handsome!

We've had one other haircut since the first one (also administered by Papa) and it went well too.  His hair grows so fast!  I was hoping that it would turn thick and wavy (Alan had the cutest thick, wavy hair when he was a baby), but I think he may get stuck with my hair (fine and straight), but at least he has good natural highlights - he's almost turning blond! 

Walking and birthdays and haircuts ... he's a big boy now!