Shave and a haircut

     Hello everyone!  I've been wanting to write this blog for a long time.  As a matter of fact this is what got me to start blogging in the first place.  When my son was finally able to shave all on his own last year, I had no one to celebrate with.  There was no one I knew, besides his teacher, who would even understand.  I knew I had to find some others like myself and so I started exploring on facebook.  I found many blogs from mothers with young children and finally through them I found some mothers with older children.  It's been quite the journey reaching out to you all.  I don't have many people checking me out.  I don't mind.  I just hope I help the few that do.
      A number of the things that I read are about the trauma of getting our children's haircut.  My experience wasn't any different at first.  We took him to the hairdresser and he didn't even make it to the chair!  He totally wigged out and had to be removed from the store.  I apologized and offered to pay.  The nice young lady replied "Why?  I never got to cut his hair!"  Upon returning home, I informed my son that his hair was going to be getting cut and that I was going to do it.  Now I'm not a professional hairdresser and all I had been doing was trimming my daughter's bangs up to this point, but I knew I had to try.  The result was the "bowl cut" you see above.  It was all I could manage with all his wriggling around. Sometimes it took more that one sitting to accomplish this.  I remember sending him to school with one side of his bangs done once!  I found that by giving him control over how long it took by either stopping for the day if it was real bad, or taking a short break on a good day, he grew to tolerate getting his haircut.  When he was just about to enter middle school, a young lady in my church decided to teach the women in my church how to give a haircut!  I was thrilled!  She taught me how to layer and not be so afraid to whack away at my son's hair!  As I learned and practiced, so my son learned to sit longer and longer for me.  Finally the day came when my husband said that my haircuts just weren't hitting the mark anymore.  It was time for another trip to the hairdresser.  Only we didn't take him to a hairdresser, we took him to this old barber, with his own little shop.  There was only one chair.  The clients were all over fifty and quite compassionate as we struggled to get him adjusted.  It wasn't until he grew big enough to sit in the chair without a pad under him that he finally was able to relax in the chair. Eventually a few years after that I took him to a chain hairdresser for a more "handsome" haircut  than the buzz cut that the barber always gave him.  It's been smooth sailing ever since.
      Of course, by this time my son was starting to grow facial hair.  I thought I had a new nightmare on my hands.  His dad has a mustache and thankfully my son said he'd like one too.  Whew!  That put it off for awhile.  Eventually the night came though that the shaving had to begin.  I made him watch his father and he got all nervous, running around.  As with everything, I had to be the one to do it. He immediately took over putting the shaving cream on.  Yes!  Take control, my son! He put it on a finger full at a time, as if he was fingerpainting his face, but he put it on!  I had to do the shaving. When he had to start shaving every day, he was no where near taking it all over on his own.  We decided to buy an electric razor.  It is somewhat thin like the hand razor he was used to seeing.  I was worried that the buzzing and vibration might bother him.  He did get all wiggly the first time we tried.  The second time, I made him try to do some.  The night he took the razor from my hand and said he would do it, I let out a yell!  I was so excited!  He has been taking care of  his face ever since.  Well, okay, I still get called in to trim his mustache every so often!  Young man has to look good! 
       For today's stress relief, I recommend peanut butter cookies.  If your child likes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he'll probably like these too. A sneaky way to get a wee bit more of protein in!  Have him help by putting the fork marks in!
       Ingredients:
                       1/2 cup butter
                       1/2 cup peanut butter
                       1/2 cup granulated sugar
                       1/2 cup packed, brown sugar
                       1 egg
                       1/2 teaspoon vanilla
                       3/4 teaspoon baking powder
                       1 1/4 cups flour
      Combine ingredients as listed.  Place rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.  Use a fork to make crisscross marks on dough.  I keep a fork in a mug of water off to the side for this purpose.  The water stops it from sticking to the dough. Bake 375 degrees for 10 minutes or edges start to brown. 
      REMINDER:  Those with nut allergies should avoid these!  Even traces of peanut butter in your mixer later could set someone off, so please be careful!
      This recipe was originally  from a old children's cookbook by Betty Crocker.  I no longer have it, as it was so well worn it fell apart!  Hopefully they won't mind!

      Well, thanks for stopping by.  It's fun to have someone to celebrate the small victories with now!  I hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of summer.  We are going to do a beach trip next week!  Whoo hoo!  I just love the ocean!  Take care.
                                               Nancy