Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Hair We Go Again

Olivia’s obsession with hair continues. While she no longer pulls her own hair out, she can often be heard asking me if she can ‘play’ with my hair. This involves her pulling gently at the hair at the nape of my neck, which drives me insane.

So her question is more often than not answered with a, “No, you cannot play with my hair.”

She’ll reply, “Please.”

I’ll say again, “No.”

She’s insist, “But I said please!!”

And I’ll tell her, “I don’t want you to play with my hair. I don’t like how it feels.”

Then, thankfully, she’ll be distracted by something and leave me and my hair alone.

A few days ago, I heard Alyssa yell, “Hey, what are you doing?”

When I went to investigate, I found that Olivia had a pair of scissors in her hand and was attempting to cut Alyssa’s hair.

Yikes! We were lucky. They were smallish, plastic scissors and Olivia didn’t have the time to actually hole A’s hair in one hand and the scissors in the other before she tried to make the first cut.

I took the scissors away before any more mischief could be attempted.

Last night, O was running around the house, working off energy before dinner.

She came up to me and said she was hot. She was wearing just underwear at that point. I told her to leave her underwear on. She said, “I don’t want to take off my underwear but I do want you to cut my hair. It’s hot on my neck.”

I offered to put her hair into a ponytail to help with the neck sweat. Olivia informed me, “I can’t do flips when my hair is in a pony!”

I told her I would not be cutting her hair, she could either stop running around or deal with the heat of her hair.

She was clearly annoyed, as her eyes almost rolled out of her head as she dealt with such an inconsiderate mother.

She ran a little more and again stopped to tell me to cut her hair.

I repeated my previous answer.

Then I called the girls to the table for dinner. Yes, Olivia arrived in just her underwear. We have a rule in our house. Underwear must be worn during dinner. I know, we practically require black-tie for meals.

Once O was seated at the table, she ordered, “Mom, come over here and bring the scissors.”

Ohh, that girl. She is so funny. Except she was serious. I reminded her yet again that I would not be cutting her hair anytime soon.

Do you all remember this?

This was Christmas 2010. Just over two years ago. Her hair has grown so much over these past two years. I can’t even imagine cutting it now. And yet…she’s so insistent. And she is six. Does she have the right to make this decision for herself? I am thinking maybe I’ll ‘trim’ it for her, just enough that she thinks I’ve cut it but to leave the length.

She’s overcome so much to get this head of hair. But I also know that cutting it might be something she just wanted last night and tomorrow, she’ll want it braided again.

I think the novelty of getting a haircut is exotic to her. We cut about six inches off Alyssa’s hair about a month ago and O’s been talking about haircuts ever since. She even tried to order me to cut my own hair last week. So yes, haircuts are all the rage for her. I’m keeping all scissors under lock and key for the time being.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When my daughter Emily was 5 she had an incident in school which prompted her to want short hair. Her hair was just past her bum at the point. After I refused she became very sad and after a week and a conversation with my grandma I decided I would allow it. I cut her hair to her shoulders, she was very happy and never brought it up again.

Could something at school have prompted this sudden desire for short hair?