Atinafu's first hair cut today at Al's. I believe it was Al himself who did the cut. Al is an artist. No doubt about it. I watched him cut the hair of the gentleman before us and Al was focused hair by hair on perfection.

We got Atinafu in the chair and he did ok for the first 3 or 4 minute. The the screaming started. We finally had to stop because he got himself so worked up. End result, we got maybe 3/4 of a hair cut and I think it just about killed Al to leave it a bit unfished but there it is. Even unfinished it's cute as heck.

Uncle J commented on Facebook.

He looks AWESOME!!! I'm sooo glad you took him to Al's. The family tradition continues. Be sure to tell Atinaufu that his Uncle Jason loved going to Al's while he was in college. I need to get Myles and Mitchell down to Al's as well. Good job mom!!! Give both boys my love.Uncle J

My response

Thanks! I can totally see us in four or five years going to Al's and Atinafu making me sit in the chairs up front while he goes to the back to sit with the big guys. You need to bring Myles and Mitchell down to Tucson and we can have a group field trip to Al's. Hugs and love to everyone!

Mom Conundrum Number 1

Johnathan asked me today if his ear was big. My first thought was that someone had told him he has big ears. Now, Johnathan's ears are sweet and kissable but they are not, if truth be told, modest in size. Still, I was indignant that my child had been subject to a big-ear comment and I was all set to assure him that his ears are the perfect size for him when I actually looked at the ear in question and HOLY COW! It was twice the size as normal. Best I can guess is that he was bitten by something and had a reaction with associated swelling.



Let me say that I hate this kind of mom stuff. I feel totally inadequate trying to decide if this was a "no big deal", a "wait and see" or "needs immediate care before he goes into allergic shock" situation. I was stuck between giving him some Benadryl and waiting to see if that took down the swelling or taking him to Urgent Care. I finally tried Urgent Care but after waiting for an hour and watching the waiting room fill up with people with issues that were clearly worse than ours and watching the triage process, it was obvious that we were going to be there for at least 4 hours. The ear looked slightly less red and he wasn't wheezing so I hummed and hawed and home we went for a dose of Benadryl and monitoring. Ear observation is made more complicated by the fact that he's passed out from the medication and sleeping on the ear that needs watching. Hopefully things will look better in the morning.

I am a "Meaner"

I've just been informed by Johnathan that I am the meanest mom EVER! I think that's quite an accomplishment. All those mean mom's throughout history - multiple Borgias and the mom from Mommy Dearest, etc, and I have topped them all. All because a shower must be taken and hair must be washed this afternoon prior to dinner at grandpa's. :)

But hold the phones, maybe I'm not quite the meanest ever. Several fellow moms indicate that they too have been given the coveted title. Rae did not allow her son to eat that 5th popsicle and Lisa reports that she makes her children actually put their dirty clothes IN the laundry basket. Lisa additional claim is that she has several children naming her "meanest mom" and that number of votes does impact the outcome of the race.

I informed Johnathan that I was embracing being a mean mom and was going to work diligently in perfecting my meaness. He was slightly disconcerted by this concept and allowed that perhaps I was a "nice" mom after all.