Like any other morning Kadyn approached and asked to see the scissors. She was excited to work on a "cut and paste" project in her room and wanted to surprise me. Boy, was I surprised!
She came out of her room and walked over to where Haley and I were sitting on the floor and this is how the conversation then proceeded.
Kadyn: "Mom, how do I look?"
Mom: (assuming that she is refereing to the pretend make-up she has put on her lips - a gift from Santa - I answer) "You look beautiful sweetheart."
Kadyn: "No Mom, how do I look?"
Mom: "Really beautiful!"
Kadyn: (in a mumble) "I cut my hair."
Mom: (not grasping her words) "What was that."
Kadyn: "I cut my hair."
Mom: "What was that."
Kadyn: "Look Mommy, I cut my hair. Doesn't it look pretty" (Kadyn turns around)
I didn't say a word. I just sat and stared. She had a pony tail in and I hadn't noticed until then that all her hair from the left and right side of her face was cut down as short as her bangs.
I must interject two things here. First, I decided long ago to work each day on having "perfect patience". Although I fall short and occasionally have to retreat to my closet only to burst into tears, I can say that our children are pretty accustomed to their mother being calm no matter what. Secondly, Kadyn is by far our most tender child, so my reaction alone of silence (accompanied with my mouth dropping wide open) was apparently more than she could handle because immediately the tears began to flow.
I told her it was alright even though my mind was already spinning with dozens of ways to resolve the problem. In the end I called my brilliant sister/hair stylist and together we agreed not to jump to any immediate haircuts. I took her in the bathroom and we curled all the hair possible and then pinned her remaining side hair up with clips. It turned out better than I had hoped, so for now, and over the next few months we will continually be using this same hairstyle while we wait for future growth.
Kind of funny too. An hour later we were playing dodge ball and as I took a closer look at little Thatch I noticed the top of his head looked a bit "off". I turned to Kadyn and asked if she had cut Thatchers hair as well. Her answer. "Of course Mom. I tried to cut his first, but when he would only let me cut off a few bunches, I started on mine".
Wow, I think I need a nap.
