Haircuts

I think I wrote in the past about the last time I tried to give Eli a haircut.  We used to shave up both boys down in the basement on a regular basis.  Then Theo started growing his hair out (to 'create his own look' as he told his doctor) and Eli would really rather just not be bothered.  But I did manage to con Eli down there a while back with the promise that it would be over more quickly than going to an actual salon.  The results were painful.  For everyone.  Eli didn't say much, but then he rarely does.  But I heard wimpers through the bathroom door as I lurked out in hall while he looked in a mirror.  Wimpers, then groans.  Then the door opened and he gave me a real look of despair.  It really wasn't that bad, but the reaction, plus my own critical eye, convinced me to hang up the clippers. 

But then Eli's head got all shaggy again and we needed to do something.  He did not want to go to Moxie, where Jon and I go.  Too much fussing with the shampoo and the option for a hot facial towel (for the record, Theo always accepts it, Eli denies).  Then, the day we are trying to negotiate some way to get the locks shorn the postal worker delivers us a big card about a new sports barber down the street.  Free cuts the first time you come in!  Yea!  Problem solved!  Except when the plan is launched I get this from Eli, "I am NOT, I repeat NOT, going to any SPORTS barber!"  Why not?  "I do NOT want some Joe Mauer cut!"  (here I didn't even think he knew who Joe Mauer was, but apparently he does, and he hates his hair cut....).  Hmmm.  I threw out a couple more options, and we even took a little walk to look in the windows of several of the salons out on Snelling, just blocks from our house.  Eli would look into each one and shake his head.  He eventually said, "Man...the clipper in the basement is starting to sound better and better."  So we returned, got out the implements and I stood poised to take the first shave.  But I couldn't do it.  We have ample evidence that Eli can get a bad haircut from a professional (ok, she did tell him enthusiastically that his was the third head she had ever cut) but we are at the place in our relationship where I would rather have some stranger inflict the damage, instead of mom.  Those sighs and wimpers from last time still hurt my heart. 
In the end it was GreatClips.  And we all survived it.  Whew.

Fashion Icons

As a parent, you keep an eye on your kid and what he deems appropriate to wear.  So far, with my guys both still pre-middle school, there haven't been any outrageous fashion choices causing arguments in the house.  I have often praised my lucky stars that I don't have to deal with the current trend in short short short girls', well, shorts.  I am also glad that I am not a young girl right now, having to decide if I'm going to wear those.  Anyway.  I've kept an eye on my boys' friends, knowing how friends influence these type of things, and all of them are more or less dressing in ways that work for me. 

It does not surprise me at all that Theo is being seduced by fashion choices before his older brother.  Eli has always been content to pull on anything, as long as it was comfortable and a t-shirt.  But the fact that Theo's first fashion alley he is venturing down is jewelry threw me for a curve.  Well, last summer, after being at DuNord with super cool widji camper and early teen Pete N, Theo did adopt the backpack look.  And this year, after seeing that Pete is toying around with becoming a skater, and wearing a 'beanie' Theo bought himself a hat or two, and has been known to wear them even with the thermometer is pushing 100.  But Pete's a class act, and if he is going to be Theo's fashion icon, I'm fine with it.  So when we got home from the YMCA pool one day and Theo went immediately to his dress up box and pulled out a gold(ish) chain to start sporting, I did a little mental inventory of my memory of Pete's neck.  Was he sporting a chain at DuNord this year?  I did not think so.  So then I thought maybe Gabe, another cool young teen and older brother of the boys' great friend Sam, might be wearing the golden chain these days.  But I had just spent 3 days on the river with Gabe and remembered no chain.  Where was the chain influence coming from?  I went ahead and asked Theo.  His reply:  "Well, there's Captain Jack Sparrow..."  Great!  I love that look. Truly.  "And....well, I noticed that all these old guys who hang out in the Y lockerroom are always wearing thme."  Really?  Old guys in the lockerroom are his fashion icons?  I wish I knew where this might go next, but Jon tells me the old guys at the Midway are most often lounging around in the lockerroom nude.  He has never mentioned nude with gold chains, but apparently that look is all the rage.  As of now, Theo still wears clothes with his chain, but we shall see where this goes I guess. 

Here's Theo in a few of his beanies.