Easy Come, Easy Go

Last week, in a moment of parental weakness, Lady Di and I were hoodwinked into giving Number One Son permission to get a Mohawk haircut. Well, a week and a half later the Mohawk is no Mo.

Sweet Pea thought it was way cool.

Dad thought it was kinda cool and would be OK for the summer.

N1S thought it was cool at first and enjoyed the extra attention from friends and family, but eventually forgot he even had it.

Lady Di liked to rub her hands on N1S's buzzed sides.

But in the end, the Mohawk just wasn't our little boy.

First of all, we couldn't find a gel strong enough to stand his hair up. So it just laid on its side and looked like a giant fuzzy caterpillar resting on top of N1S's head which diminished his rocker vibe. Which brings me back to who N1S is. He is not a rocker. He is a very polite thoughtful boy. He likes to ride his bike, play chess and watch Star Wars movies. He likes to ride his skateboard a little bit, and likes to pretend to be cool by saying 'Dude' every once in a while. He can't seem to keep a straight face when he says it though. He doesn't put up his pointer and pinkie fingers in the 'rock on' sign and stick out his tongue. He's not a slacker, unless it's time for piano practice. He's just a nice kid.

So perhaps letting him have a Mohawk made him realize that it's just not that big of a deal, and maybe he won't ask for another one for a long time. Mom and Dad are hoping that is the case.

He now just has a regular summer buzz cut.

Hopefully, he will not think that he has to up the ante to a piercing or tattoo of some sort next summer. His fear of shots at the doctor will likely discourage him from those.

Now, it seems, we have our old son back at least for one more summer. And his Mom can still rub his head when she wants to.

Orange?

We've kept Number One Son waiting for nine plus long years, but this week we finally broke down and let him have what he wanted. Every month or so he has asked for this, and every month or so we had to put our collective feet down in defiance. As our defiance weakened and the timing was right, N1S saw his opportunity and jumped at it.

"Can I have a Mohawk?"

Sorry Grandma and Grampa, it's done and there's nothing to do now but wait until it grows out. Since it is the beginning of summer and there are no important pictures scheduled, we said it was now or never. Lady Di probably would have preferred never. But our hairdresser made a fun time of it. N1S was little tentative at the hairdresser's when she actually started to buzz him. He wasn't very talkative and I thought he was maybe having second thoughts. Sweet Pea helped a lot when she cheered him without any prompting from me.

"That looks sooo cool!", she gushed.

After that encouragement, he was excited to know what kind of clippers she used and was describing how different his hair felt.

SP got her haircut too, but it was a far far cry from a Mohawk. She probably lost just as much hair as N1S but you couldn't tell since she just got her bangs trimmed and an inch off her length.

Not as extreme as N1S but it looks just as good.

After haircuts, they each chose a Fun Dip from the treat basket and we were off to show off their coifs. We actually only went to the hardware store and the dump, but N1S did get some nice comments at the hardware store.

So now N1S has a haircut to match his skateboarding lifestyle. Or at least he looks like he has a skateboarding lifestyle. We also have to remember that he needs sunscreen on his head now. He hasn't gotten annoyed with his parents for constantly rubbing the stubble on his head yet. He even says he likes the way it feels.

Our plan is to let it grow out and get back to normal before school starts this fall. I'm a little worried now that we have let him have a Mohawk once, how will we be able to say no in the future? I guess it could have been worse. He could have wanted a hairstyle like this poor guy.

We dodged a bullet there.

Thanks, Father of Five, for the use of the picture from your last haircut.