A Baby No Longer

"Don't do it", my mom warned. "You'll be sorry. She won't look like a baby anymore." Deep in my heart, I knew this to be true. But it had to be done.
I'm referring to Emily's first haircut. She somehow went from practically bald at around six months to having spiky hair around nine months to having a long, shaggy 'do around a year. Since then it has just gotten longer and longer, especially around her eyes. At the very end, I think her vision was actually impaired. Aside from the interference with her eyesight, she simply looked unkempt. I was starting to fear that someone might report us to Child Protective Services for letting our daughter walk (or rather, crawl) around like that. So, we decided that, like it or not, it must be done.

Emily decidedly did not like it. After several failed attempts to trim her up a bit myself, we thought better of yet another try with sharp, pointy objects near her face and opted to go to a professional. Hail Great Clips. They will trim up bangs for $5.00. A small price to pay to have the responsibility of actually cutting the hair and not the face on someone else's shoulders. We knew that this trip might be problematic, so I took two of Emily's favorite things with me to assist. Greg and her binky. Still, it did not go well. There was fussing. There was twisting. There was writhing. But, the lady was a professional, she knew how to do things. Just like that, she was in and out, and the bangs were cut. Having survived a bang trimming without any blood or facial appendages severed, we decided to leave well enough alone and call it done.

And then came the moment. As we were paying our $5.oo and preparing to leave, the stylist dug in a big tub of Dum-Dums, pulled one out, and offered it to Emily. My first reaction was, "no, no...she's just a baby, she's too young for that". But Emily reached out her hand and grabbed the Dum-Dum faster than you could say "haircut". She stared at it for a moment. She popped it in her mouth. She removed it and stared at it again. Then she said "...More!" and proceeded to polish off the Dum-Dum (carefully monitored, of course). As I sat and watched my baby eat her lollipop like a big girl, it hit me. She really is a baby no longer. Damn, my mom knew what she was talking about, again.