Poor little Benji

Benjamin is a pretty easy child. Most days he is a happy, bubbly child that loves to play with toy cars and trains. He likes to have stories read to him and his current favorite movie is Finding Nemo, which is a nice break from Cars (that was the favorite all summer). He likes to build with blocks and loves to take his push-bike outside and run around with it. Overall, a pretty easy kid. EXCEPT when one of the following happens.

1. Getting new shoes. Grandma Tracie can even confirm this. He freaks out about having his foot on the plate that they use to measure your feet. Won't do it. Screams. Curls his toes, and thrashes about. Not a fun thing to do with him.

2. Taking him to the doctor. Absolutely not a favorite for me. We took Mercedes a couple of weeks ago because she had an infection in her throat and all Benji did was walk into the exam room and then start screaming. I tried explaining that the visit wasn't for him but for Mercedes. The only thing I can think of to describe his actions would be a kitten realizing they are going to get wet and climbing/clawing their way to the highest point available. (This would be Ben climbing up my body and wrapping his arms around my head as tight as possible.) I told Aaron if he gets sick I am not taking him back. He will. :)

3. Getting his hair cut. Another daunting task. He just has to look at the salon chair and burst into tears. Aaron and I took him to a Super Wal-mart in mid-September to get his hair cut. I made Aaron take him, because I knew how he would react and hoped that with Mom not being there, it would be better. As I went through some of the aisles of the store, I could hear my son screaming bloody murder as they attempted to cut his hair. Even when it was done the neck area was still long and they missed lots of hair around his ears. Grrrr. But hey, the kid was screaming and thrashing so I can't really blame them.

The other day I got my hair cut. It's very short and needed to be trimmed because it's thick and gets weird looking if I don't keep it up. While I was getting it cut I noticed how the girl cut it and where and thought... Hmmm, that doesn't look SO hard. I wonder if I could do this to Benji...

Which brings me to yesterday afternoon. Benji woke up from his nap and had the hair sticking out in tufts around his ears. He needed a haircut badly, but both Aaron and I were avoiding it because we know what it's like to take him. (We always bribe him with candy when we are there, but it never seems to be enough).

So I sat Benji on the counter and told him he could have a treat if he let me cut his hair. He freaked out of course and ducked his head every time I came near with the scissors. Then I had an idea. I got out his booster seat (strapped him in hee hee) and sat him in front of a movie (Good thinking, Mom). He had a big fat tootsie roll pop and was really quite happy for awhile. I let him touch the scissors handle and told them that they wouldn't hurt him. I placed the scissors on my head and said, "See? Doesn't hurt!". I then went and found a shiny new kitchen gadget that he had never seen and we took "turns". I would snip some hair, and then he would have his "turn" which was simply placing the shiny piece he held on top of his head and making buzzing noises. This worked out really well. I played up the his turn/my turn until he became so engrossed in the movie that I was able to cut without him caring. I got done and was so proud of myself. I had never cut hair before (except when I botched Mercedes bangs when she was 2 and made her look like Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber) and it turned out really good. I took him upstairs to wash him up and clean the hair off his body. Afterwards I brought him back to the movie (he was quite upset with me for taking him from it) and continued to let him watch. However, upon taking him back to the movie, I noticed that he had a stray hair above his ear. I sat him back in his chair and got my scissors. At the EXACT moment that I cut that stray hair, he turned his head and Aaron and Mercedes came through the door. Well, I missed. I cut into the hair itself and left a horrible dent in it. It ruined all my work. Now I was going to have to shave that area. My pride was too great to take him to a pro, so I showed him what clippers look like and how they sound and let him hold them. No one up until this day has ever been successful with cutting his hair with clippers. So, I began. He was mad that we had to start over but also kept proudly telling his dad that he was getting a "Heecaw" which translated is Haircut. So now, it's shorter than I wanted, but what I had to do so he doesn't really look like he's from Tennessee (Land of bad haircuts and mullets) Not bad for my first shave... too bad it's not summer though.