Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The haircut, the drama, and survival

Chick-A-Boom is typically a sensory seeker. . . unless her head is involved. . . especially her hair.  Then she is a sensory avoider.  Recall bathtime desensitizing.

Her hair.  You cannot touch it, you cannot wash it, and you certainly cannot comb it without a complete screaming meltdown.  It sounds like I am torturing a small sea lion.  Or rather, a large sea lion.  The screaming protests are so loud that Andrew checks on us during bath time.

Goldilocks


Have you ever noticed that her hair tends to be in a rubber band on the right side?  Always the right side?  There is just something that bugs her about the left side.  The bows, those only last long enough for the pictures.  That is because of her sensory issues.


I am too busy doing very important things to show you my new haircut.


Now, imagine venturing out for a haircut.  The tip is significantly larger than the cost of the cut.  I leave a ridiculously large gratuitous tip so that we may be allowed back into the kid's specialty hair salon twice a year.  Yes, twice a year.  Any more than that and I fear the salon may ban us and Ellie may never forgive me. She screams.  She stands.  She twists and turns.  She throws the water bottle.  She will not sit on the car/pony/unicorn.  She will not watch their movies.

Last week, it was time.  I put it off as long as possible.   It started to get really really really scraggly.  She started chewing on it.  Applesauce was getting matted in it.  This meant more hair washings and more combing sessions.




Therefore, I started Operation: Mommy Cuts Ellie's Hair

The tools:

1. Booster seat with T-straps aka restraints.  Oh yes, I restrained her.

2. The double chocolate chip cookie--LARGE for it must distract her for the ENTIRE hair cut.  If her mouth is full, I cannot be bitten.

3. Signing Time on the iPad = distraction


I do anything for cookies and Signing Time!


4. Vodka.  For me.  Just kidding!

5. Lots of detangler. As in a whole bottle.

6. Tequila.  Again, just kidding, but I thought about it!

Oops!  How did this get in here?
7. M&Ms.  For me.  NOT kidding.  A whole bag for decompressing.

8. Fabric shears.  I do not recommend this.  I am going to invest in hair cutting scissors.




I did it!  Yes, I did my own hack job on my little girl's hair.  It looks, well, okay.  Acceptable.  Not fabulous.  I messed up the back a little, and tried to make it looks like mine.  You know like I meant to layer it a bit!  The important part is that Ellie Bear SAT through the entire cut.  She ate her cookie and watched Signing Time.  She did briefly try to look at me when I trimmed the sides, but that was it.  I did it and she survived!  Her ears are still attached!  Five inches were cut off (hey, I need to make it several more months before the next hack job).


So, uh, I had a little incident with the back and tried to make it look like my hair to cover it up.  Grr, straight hair.  That is the only good thing about curly hair--you can cover up errors.



*October is both Down Syndrome Awareness Month and National Sensory Awareness Month.*

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8 comments:

  1. Well, I think you did a fabulous job! And I doubt anyone would have said anything about the vodka :)

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  2. I think you did a great job. I'm positive no one would care about the vodka :-) I am surprised that the pics of the beer glasses were full ;-)

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  3. It looks fantastic!!! Great job, both of you. :-)

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  4. It looks good to me! I have always cut my boys hair to save money. Now you can save money AND get to eat M&Ms! Perfect!

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  5. I think she looks adorable & you did a fabulous job. I think about it but haven't quite yet summoned up the courage to chop off the locks. But we are quite familiar w/the applesauce effect.

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  6. Looks like a good job to me!! You'll just get better and better!

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  7. oh boyi know this pain...tilly stripped off at the hairdressers when i first took her and threw her boots into somebody's head the other side of the salon!x

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  8. It looks great..you did a very good job..i tried to cut one of my older girls once and i never did it again...lol it was a huge epic fail!!!

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