Henry's First Haircut

It had to happen. Henry's first haircut. Henry was born with a mop of soft, straight black hair. We thought his hair would fall out eventually to be replaced with new hair. It didn't. It just kept on growing. It eventually started to curl. Soon enough, he had the best afro I have ever seen. People stopped us everywhere we went to admire his hair and his good looks. We even got stopped in the clothing store Nartje, by one of the employees, who insisted on giving us a modeling application for Henry. She swore up and down that he was meant to be a baby model. When we told people about this, they agreed. Henry's hair, and with it his fame, grew and grew. Beth could easily cornrow his hair and if he were a girl, he could've had all kinds of cool ponytail hairstyles. For a couple of months now, I have known it was time to cut his hair. His hair was well past his shoulders when wet. It took an obscene amount of time to pick out (which always led to Henry crying). If we didn't wet it and pick it every single day, it was a big tangled mess. I agonized over giving him his first haircut. His hair was part of his identity. And he is still a baby. However, I knew it had to happen. This morning, I got brave. I cut it with scissors first, then moved on to the shaver with a guard. In the end, we have a very, very handsome 14 month old boy who looks like he is at least 2 years old now. He is still adorable and model material, but he looks different. The whole family loves it and yet also feels a little sad about the change. Our baby is growing up.