Spawn's First Haircut.

My spawn got his first haircut today. He's always had a ton of hair. Before the cut, when it was wet, it was a quarter of the way down his back. When it was dry, it hung in perfect, tight ringlets that didn't go past the nape of his neck. It was long enough that I could easily, and frequently, put it in a baby man bun. I always told him that I wouldn't cut his hair unless he asked for it. Once he could tell me that he wanted his hair cut, I would get it cut. So today I was joking about needing to cut his bangs again, and he grabbed a fistful of his hair and said "cut?" Then he started signing and saying please and thank you, which is what he knows he has to do if he wants something. I asked to double check, and he really wanted his hair cut. I told him we would do it after school, and he spent the next half hour we were there trying to convince me to leave. He was so excited. I texted his dad and my mom and they were both there. He was pointing to pictures in the salon of kids getting their hair cut and he was just stoked. I pointed to my hair (pixie cut) and asked if he wanted his hair short. And he said yes. So I found a style on Pinterest and went with it. And he was wonderful the whole time. He was playing and laughing with his dad, playing with the curls falling from his head as they were cut off. He didn't even start to fuss, not once. I, however, cried. I didn't want my baby to have his hair cut. I wanted to keep his hair long until at least his second birthday. Longer, if I could get away with it. So I cried. There went all his previous baby curls. His face looks so grown up now. He doesn't look like my tiny baby anymore. He looks like this tiny, wonderful little person that I created, and that I love more than life.

It may sound crazy that I cut his hair when I didn't want to. Most parents wouldn't have. But I told him he could cut it when he could ask. And he asked. I want my son to know that his body and all its parts, hair included, are his to decide what to do with. I wouldn't want someone telling me what to do with my body. I have no right to tell him what to do with his. It's his. He has limits, of course. No tattoos or piercings or weird stuff until he's over 18. But he can decide how he wants to dress and how he wants to wear his hair. Even if it makes his mommy cry.