THE HAIRCUT

As children grow older, they develop their own sense of style. They let us know we, as their parents, have less control over how we want to have them look or what clothes we put together for them for school the next morning. Our babies are no longer little anymore but in many ways they will always be our babies.

The line at the parent pickup at school was long. The guy walking around the three lines of waiting cars recognised me from two days ago and knew which my children were. 'Bring out the spice girls', he called into his hand-held radio. Granted, my boy's name is an herb, but he gets lumped into the spice category. I still wish I would have called him Basil.

We had over an hour before we needed to be at Lauren's for Sage's haircut. I decided to drive to the house and leave the children's backpacks inside. Saffron exclaimed she was hungry and wanted a sandwich. I went inside as the children waited outside for their 'Naan with cheddar cheese' sandwiches which they ate in front of the door.

Even after taking time for sandwiches, we still were early for Sage's appointment. We had enough time to drive to Trader Joe's for exactly ten items. This I know because each child wanted their own baby shopping cart which the children know to exist only at Trader Joe's.

As we walked around the store, I took turns placing an equal amount of items into each of the children's carts. I did not see the package of Havarti slices under the chips in Sage's cart, so he ended up with one extra item. At the checkout, I grabbed a bag of the mini peanut butter cups. The Rittersport chocolates we had as dessert for dinner.

We made it in time for the haircut appointment, with Lauren showing up a minute or two later. The girls were a bit hyper during the almost half hour we were there but Sage was calm as he sat and enjoyed his haircut. After his hair was washed, which happens to be his favourite part of the haircut experience, he told Lauren he wanted his hair even shorter.

She asked him if he was sure and that he would have no hair left if he went shorter. Sage replied 'yes'. He made up his own mind and there was no changing it. She had a look of hesitation on her face but I assured her it was fine to go ahead and cut it shorter. Gone were the days of his surfer boy hair with the little curls. He stated he wished to look like a boy, not a girl.

The children are growing in other ways. The girls have expressed a desire to take over reading during bedtime whilst Sage still prefers I read to him, but only because he is still learning to read. His book of choice tonight was 'Babar and the Ghost'. Saffron read the next chapter in her 'Anna and Elsa: Memory and Magic' book. Cinnamon finished the final pages of 'The Happy Lion'.

Saffron was particularly nice to her brother this evening. She asked me if Sage could sleep in her bed tonight albeit later decided against it since she knew he would be sleeping sideways at some point during the night and she would not get the rest she needed. But the way she hugged him and kissed him goodnight was one of those moments which will forever be in my mind as I look back on their childhood.