Still doesn't like haircuts

"Smile like this?"

concentrating

"Excuse me, but you are sitting in front of a ball I would very much like to play with."

Singing AND getting her picture taken. That's multitasking for you.

I took the kids to get some long overdue haircuts today. We always get the first appointments, and Back Seat Girl is always first. When she woke up this morning the first thing she said to Driver was "I'm going to get my hair cut today!".

Today's appointment went like the first two times I've had to take them both to get cut. The hairdresser says "Who wants to go first?" and BSG bounds over without a backwards glance. After I gave instructions for her haircut I took Back Seat Boy over to another waiting hairdresser, and as soon as he realized he was going to be put down into the chair he started crying. Frosted animal cookie? No, won't even look at it, much less grab it. Look! Barney on TV!! Nope, not looking at that either. He cried and drooled and ate just enough of his cookie that the front of his cape was wet with slightly frosted drool. Then, just to make his point, he managed to drool so much that it was running off of the cape onto the floor. He got mad. He reached for me. He got all red and splotchy. The second I picked him up, he stopped. I wish that kid would understand I'm paying pretty decent money to get his haircut and it's hard to get a good haircut when the subject is screaming and reaching for his mommy the whole time.

Meanwhile, across the room, BSG chatted happily with the girl cutting her hair. Every once in a while I can hear her say "[BSB]" in a sing-song way to try to get him to stop crying, but for the most part she's just talking away. I made my way over to her with her brother, who looked like he had a beard since his hair was stuck to his wet face, and got there just in time to hear the hairdresser ask her what color her hair was. "Blonde", replied BSG matter-of-factly. "How did you get to be so smart?" asked her hairdresser. BSG had no answer, so the hairdresser turned and told me she'd been counting and talking and carrying on. In fact, BSG was so charming she managed to get a free braid out of the deal. I'm telling you, that girl charms the pants off of strangers. I rarely go anywhere with her without having a conversation with a total stranger either about her or started by her. Really, if she's acting like a brat around you, you should take it as a compliment--she feels comfortable with you. If you're a stranger she'll be on her best behaviour.