Written by: Caroline Ludwig
Elliot has always had hair. I’m sure there was a point when he was still growing in my belly where he didn’t, but he was born with a full head of hair. People tell you that their hair will fall out after their born, and I’ve seen examples of it happening, but both of our kids managed to hang onto their hair and only got bald spots from rubbing the back of their heads on the floor before they learned how to roll over.
Elliot’s hair has always been soft and will listen when you try to brush it to the side of his face, unlike his sister’s hair which will not listen to attempts to tuck it behind her ears. Because of that, I had no desire to trim his hair. It brushed out of his face (most of the time) and didn’t bother him so it was fine. Unlike Lilly’s hair, Elliot’s hair tends to get very tangled, very fast. I was detangling his hair every evening and while he didn’t mind it too much, he wasn’t a fan of having to sit still.
I’ve been thinking about cutting Elliot’s hair for the last few weeks. It’s getting warmer outside, he’s getting more food and muck in his hair (hello boy mom life), and his hair looked pretty uneven. After waffling back and forth, talking to Joe about maybe thinking about doing it twenty times, and defending my decision to not cut his hair for the 100th time we decided it was time.
Celebrating a Birthday in the Country
Last Sunday, we went out to Versailles, Indiana for my father-in-law’s 60th birthday. Joe’s family owns some land out there that the kids haven’t been to yet. We “surprised” the birthday boy at a restaurant in town so we would all have a place to meet up. The kids behaved (mostly) through a lazy lunch before we pulled out the cake where Lilly had “helped” pick out the candles. The kids didn’t eat much of their lunch but demolished their shared slice of cake. We loaded them up into the van to find the place that doesn’t have an address.
Country Roads Take Me Home
We followed Joe’s dad down county roads in Indiana hoping that he wouldn’t get lost because we didn’t know exactly where we were going. Surprisingly, we only questioned him once and we all made it there in one piece. Joe, myself, the kids, and Joe’s dad were the only ones really dressed for the occasion. The property is all woods with some small paths throughout. We grouped together on the road and decided that Lilly, Joe’s brother, Joe’s dad, and I were the only ones that were willing to go exploring. Elliot didn’t want to keep his hat on so Joe stayed with his mom and future sister-in-law. Jenna eventually decided to join us too, but we had to wait for her to get my extra hat out of the van.
We used a deer path to get to the main trail through the property and it looked pretty overgrown until we were about 100 yards into the woods when it opened up to a well-worn path. We carried Lilly the majority of the way because I wasn’t sure how far she would try to wander and some of the puddles were pretty big. Our goals to visit the property were to see: 1) where Joe’s dad and uncle almost got seriously injured from attempting to clear a fallen tree in the creek, 2) the outhouse that was allegedly still standing, and 3) the overall state of the property.
The place where Joe’s dad and uncle did stupid things was easy to see because it was the bridge we drove over before we parked the cars, but the outhouse would be a hike. Joe’s dad knew how to get there, so we followed him through the woods on what I’m counting as my second hike of the year. We might have gotten most of the way to the outhouse, but there was a large puddle and we knew the guys on the road were beginning to worry about us (though we didn’t have enough service to get messages telling us that) so we decided it was time to turn back.
Retracing our steps I took the wrong fork to go to the creek with Lilly to see if we could see the bridge. We didn’t see the bridge to wave to dad and Elliot, but we did find a great place to go creeking later this summer. Our walk back was uneventful until we were greeted by an Indiana State Trooper as we were getting out of the woods. The locals noticed the cars parked on the side of the road and called the police officer that lives next to the property. He was talking to Joe and his mom when we were walking out and we chatted with him for a bit before packing the kids back up to go home. Both kids had napped on the drive out and we were hoping they would nap the whole way home. Of course, they did not.
Elliot’s First Haircut
When we got home Lilly was still sleeping and had only half woken up when Joe carried her from the car to the couch and then she continued sleeping on the couch. I knew options would be limited for times to cut Elliot’s hair so today would have to be the day. Cutting his hair would be a two-man operation and Lilly was showing no signs of wanting to wake up. I attempted to put our haircutting cape on Elliot, but he was having none of it, so instead, we took off his shirt and put him in his own little chair. Joe played Sesame Street songs, took pictures, and attempted to keep Elliot slightly still as I wielded the scissors.
The first thing I cut was his little ‘tail’ at the base of his neck and it made me really sad. Once I got started I just kept going. My goal was to get his sides short and keep some length on the top. I’m not sure I kept the top as long as I wanted to, but he was a wiggle butt who was making things difficult. The more of his hair I cut the more he looked like a little boy and he was losing some of his baby face. I tried to cut sections pretty evenly but you can tell that I used scissors along the sides. I wasn’t comfortable with bringing out the electric hair trimmer, but maybe I’ll give it a go next time.
Fifteen minutes after I started trimming we were plopping him in the bath to wash off the hair trimmings and I was still in denial about my baby’s new look. I may have been the one that cut his hair, but I still wanted to see my little baby boy, not a precocious little toddler. His hair was a lot easier to wash and Lilly wasn’t phased by her brother’s new look when she joined him in the tub.
After Elliot was in his jammies we sent photos of his new look to the grandparents who had been asking for him to get a haircut for months. Everyone liked his new look and his Opa said, “this is the best birthday present ever”. I left for class before he woke up Monday morning but my mom sent me a photo of him eating breakfast and I swear he looks six months older. Over the last few months, he’s gotten longer, his neck is finally starting to show up, and he’s losing some of his roundness. This haircut accentuated all of the ways my baby is no longer a baby, but I’m looking forward to where our little explorer will take us next. With Memorial Day weekend coming up it’ll probably be a smaller creek that’s more his speed.
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