It was Haircut Time here at World of Julie. Haircut Time used to be a horrible, horrible time, when Henry would run screaming from him like I was chasing him with scissors. (Oh, wait…well, like I was going to cut open his chest with the scissors.) Right after Eli was born, I took Henry to a barber down the street from us, thinking maybe we could make a fun tradition of going to that barber for haircuts. Henry struggled and screamed so much that I had to hold him down, baby Eli in the sling was completely covered in hair by the end, and the barber was dripping in sweat. When he needed another haircut (not long after the barber one — not surprisingly, the guy couldn’t do that thorough a job), we went to a place called Snip-Its that specializes in cutting kid’s hair. It worked ok, mostly because they let Henry sit in my lap while they cut his hair. The haircutting woman did yell oddly at Henry like he was a deaf Latvian. She’s say to me, in a normal voice, “How do you want it cut?” and then to Henry would yell, “WE’RE GOING TO CUT YOUR HAIR, OK?????” Anyway, the other reason it worked was because they showed little animated movies to distract the haircuttee (they were strange Snip-Its-related movies with dancing scissors and combs, but still, they did the job). Snip-Its gave Henry a totally generic haircut, and it cost $15, but it was worth every penny to realize that Henry would sit still if he was watching something on TV.

And so began our special ritual of, every six weeks or so, heading to the library to get a video (usually one of the Scholastic ones) to watch while I cut the boys’ hair. Now, instead of screaming pre-emptively at the mere mention of a haircut, it has become something they look forward to, because they get to pick out a video.

This time we got Richard Scarry’s Best Silly Songs and Stories Ever (for Henry’s haircut) and Thomas Gets Bumped (for Eli). Here’s a post-Henry, pre-Eli photo:

Don’t you love Henry’s face here? Lately he’s been claiming this is the only way he can smile in pictures. I didn’t take a pre-haircut photo of Henry because he this crazy thick massive amount of hair, hair you could thatch a roof with, and when he needs a haircut it sort of looks like a bad wig. Nothing I’d post on the internet for future girlfriends to find later (but this odd toothy face…sure!). Eli’s hair, when it gets long, just gets in his eyes and gives him this sort of Surfer Cool look.

Here is post-haircuts, the next day:

Zuzu got in on the fun, even though she clearly did not need a haircut. I like that I managed to snap the photo with her mid-kick. Here you see a typical Henry outfit. He likes to dress “like an Easter egg.” Or, sometimes, like “the most colorful fish in the world.”