Lower those ears!!

Oh the drama of the haircut.  Nicholas has had two good haircut experiences and all the rest have been pretty much awful.  Nick and I have been taking him to a regular, run-of-the-mill "haircut place" nearby that has a cute little airplane chair for kids.  Nicholas refused to sit in the airplane chair as a 1-year-old, but we managed to get through the haircuts with him in my lap alternating between crying and licking a lollipop.  He enjoyed his last visit there around the holidays, so we thought we'd try again yesterday.  SA Grandpa has also taken Nicholas twice for a haircut at his barbershop.  Apparently, Nicholas enjoyed his first experience in a real barbershop very much, but the second trip was an exercise in the barber's ability to cut the hair of a crying/fussy child. 

Yesterday, we headed off to our haircut place with our fingers crossed to get Nicholas all fancied up.  He was originally okay with the idea of getting a haircut until we walked up to the airplane chair.  Then, he started throwing a fit.  He was kicking, screaming, and pushing the stylist's hands away.  The stylist mentioned that he could get a balloon if he sat through his haircut, but Nicholas announced, "No!  I don't need a balloon!  I already have one!"  Eventually, the stylist gave up and basically told us to get out.  I was not amused, so Nicholas was informed that his candy, junk food, and McDonalds privileges were lost until he had a haircut.  (He doesn't eat that much of the aforementioned foods, but he does look forward to them!) 

Today, I sat Nicholas down and talked to him about why he didn't like getting his hair cut.  He admitted that the buzzers (clippers, if you don't speak Nicholas) were okay since they just tickled a little bit, but the blow dryers were very loud and very scary.  He also said that he didn't like the haircut place near our house and he didn't like Grandpa's haircut place.  So, we decided together that we would try a new haircut place that's just for kids.  Nicholas liked that idea, so I did him one better.  I offered to take him to the haircut place inside Toys R Us.  A little smile crept across his face as he quietly asked, "There's a haircut place inside the toy store?!" 

I packed the boys up in the van and off we went!  I talked to Nicholas about his haircut along the way and he seemed relatively excited about the whole thing.  When we arrived, there was a one year old boy getting his haircut and we were next in line.  I picked Nicholas up to show him how nicely the little boy was behaving for his haircut.  (Thank you, small child!!  You are my hero!)  Nicholas noticed that there was a little TV in front of the boy's firetruck chair.  The boy was watching Elmo's World!  I showed Nicholas the movie selections on the wall, and he chose Blue's Clues as his haircut movie.  Then Nicholas sat down on a bench in the waiting area and played a video game on the Game Cube.  (He was laughing hysterically as he caused his little blue character to fall off the edge repeatedly.)  All too soon, the boy was all finished with his haircut and Nicholas became a little anxious.  The hairdresser helped Nicholas pick out his chair (he chose the firetruck, too) and his movie.  Then, Nicholas and I told her that we didn't want to use the blow dryer today, and she caught on quickly and showed Nicholas that she was putting the blow dryer into a drawer so it wouldn't be used.  Nicholas was immediately happy with the hairdresser and began chatting her up.  She wasn't the most outgoing person ever, but she was very good about explaining everything to Nicholas and distracting him when he was contrary (thank you, Blue's Clues!)  Nicholas made it happily through the haircut and even smiled a few times!  When the hairdresser announced that Nicholas was all done, he looked up at her and said, "Thank you for the haircut!"  Amazing.  He got up, demanded his lollipop, and then went out to explore Toys R Us.  I made sure to sign up for the haircut rewards program, because we will definitely be back...on a weekday.  Thank you, Zachary, for sleeping through the haircut in the stroller!!!  Handsome pictures of Nicholas to come!!!