Not The Hair!

At the age of 4, Sasha has had 4 haircuts. Two of them were planned, while the other two were decidedly not. Her first haircut was courtesy of her cousin Tristan. We spent Mother's Day 2009 at my sister and brother-in-law's house. The adults were hanging out and relaxing while the kids played all over the house. At one point Sasha came and told us that her cousin Tristan had done her hair. I glanced at her, saw he'd given her a ponytail and told her it looked nice. When we got home, I got a call from my sister informing me that I might want to check Sasha's hair since she had just found long blond hair in the wastebasket. Sure enough, Tristan had given Sasha bangs, and I hadn't even noticed. For an 8 year old, he did a pretty good job. Actually I'm pretty sure it was a much better job than I would have done if I had tried. There was also a small chunk of hair cut out of the back, but it really wasn't noticeable.

Grandma Jolene gave Sasha her second haircut when she came to visit the following summer. The bangs were getting a little bit long, so she gave them a nice trim. By the next summer Sasha's hair was looking really scraggly on the ends, and the missing chunk was more noticeable. Our neighbor, who's a hairdresser, was kind enough to give Sasha a real haircut, complete with layers to camouflage the missing chunk.

And then today happened. Sasha and I went to the park in celebration of the 40 degree weather. She rode her bike. I walked/jogged to keep up when she rode fast and did jumping jacks next to her when she was riding really slowly. Just before she went down the slide for the last time at the park, I noticed that she was chewing on a big wad of her hair. Turned out it was a big wad of her (still attached) hair mixed with gum. "Sasha!!!" I said. "I didn't try to. It's so windy mama!" she said. Couldn't really argue with that. So I tore the gum out of her hair before any more got stuck in it and we went home. Thankfully, our neighbor had all her equipment at home tonight and was able to give Sasha an emergency haircut. She managed to keep most of the length, and add some pretty layers. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else happens to her hair. This may be the start of a "no gum unless you're wearing several barrettes and a ponytail" policy!