I've been awake for about an hour and am still in shock over what happened last night.
I suppose it is a right of passage for kids and we recently went through it with my nephew, so you would think it wouldn't have caught me so off guard, but it did! And I was really shocked!
Last night, Grandma and Grandpa came over for a belated birthday celebration of my sweet 4 year old. After the present was ripped open and the oohs and ahhs subsided, Grandma asked for a pair of scissors to cut out the Barbie closet items. FUN!!!
I moved into the kitchen to finish up dinner and so did the other adults. After about 10 or so minutes I walk into the living room to find my daughter mumbling something to the effects of "I wet my hair!" As I looked closer, and tried to interpret what she was saying, I said, "why did you wet your hair?" Then look down to where she had just set down the pair of scissors!
WAIT???? Did you cut your hair? As she runs her little innocent hand through her hair, slowly the realization sets in. YOU CUT YOUR HAIR???? So proud, she replies YES!
I tell you, it all went into slow motion from this moment forward. I attempt to get her to show me her hair as she runs into the bathroom. I run after her trying to get a glimpse of the damage. I noticed that the front was cut and am trying to assess the sides and back. At this moment, she is starting to realize that maybe she shouldn't have done what she did, but not really. She starts to get upset and I realize it is only because of my reaction, so I calm her down and say, Mommy just wants to see how you cut your hair. At this point, although I'm trying to stay calm and not be crushed, I'm sure I wasn't doing the best at covering my emotions.
My girl, with the most gorgeous blond ringlets has just cut off her beautiful hair. We were almost all at one length and had just that day organized all her hair ties and barrettes in her room. I take a deep breath and assess the bald spot on one side and mullet like style in the front, but had somehow comforted myself in thinking it wasn't that bad.
That was until her Dad yells to come into her room. I walk in and my stomach churns. The floor is covered in SO MUCH HAIR! OH MY GOSH!!!! It was A LOT of hair!
In ahhh, I finally calm down, collect all the hair to put into ziplock (because i'm not quite ready to throw it away) and my sweet girl is walking around so proud. She walks over to Grandma and Grandpa (who are trying not to laugh) and so excited tells them how she cut her hair.
And so it begins. My independent, sweet girl has experienced one right of passage as a kid. She excitedly showed my sister over Facetime what she had done and as my sister and I had just discussed last week how I need to be open to cutting her hair. I realize, this is probably the only way I was going to cut her hair. So today as soon as she is up and the salon is open, we will be headed down with our newly four year old styled mullet and having it fixed into something I'm sure will be just darling.
All this happens just an hour after I had read this article on the Huffington Post about how your talk to little girls. Ahhhhh... talk about testing what you learn! Will share pics as soon as we get the new do! Want to make sure it wasn't a dream when she wakes up. =)