Asher's first hair cut

Today we took Asher for his very first hair cut!  I was not convinced that a hair cut was necessary, but his hair was getting long in the back, and it would get tangled easily.  I agreed to a small trim, although I told Eric that I felt pressured into it-- he would solicit opinions from everyone about Asher's hair, trying to get them to agree with him that Asher needed a hair cut.  Regardless, I said we could get him a very small trim.

An attempt at having a cape on to keep the hair off

 We decided he would sit on my lap for the trim.  This seemed to work well, because he wasn't scared at all, and only seemed curious at the woman behind his head.

Bear in a cape.  Moments later, he threw it off.

snip, snip

snip, snip some more

 The whole thing went very quickly.  I'm happy with the hair cut because he still has plenty of curls and hair, it is just a little shorter in the back.  I showed my mom (who is just home from Vietnam) the above pictures, and she asked, "Where was Benjamin?"

Benjamin was entertaining himself with a mop and a broom.  His interest in anything with a long handle continues!  Unfortunately it extends to things like toilet brushes, too.  But he was in heaven at the salon when he found both a mop AND a broom to play with!

Benjamin with his two new friends

I asked if the salon was looking to hire some help with sweeping up hair.  If this interest of his keeps up, I will have him mowing the lawn and vacuuming by the time he's two!

Our day ended with a wonderful surprise- a friend of mine posted on facebook that he was in a town in New Jersey about 30 minutes from here, and I said if he had made it that close to our house (he lives in New York City), he should just come on over.  And he did!  It was so nice to see him again, since it had been about two years since our last in-person visit, and his first time meeting the boys.  The boys seemed to like him, and Benjamin was climbing on him and rubbing his bald head within minutes of his arrival.  Despite the lapse in time between our visits, it felt like no time had passed at all.  I am so glad I had left our afternoon and evening unscheduled and open for a little spontaneity!

For dinner we had chicken pad thai using a recipe from a new cookbook that I got from Border's yesterday.  I had $80 in Border's gift cards that I spent while there were still decent books left in the store.  I am so upset that Border's is going out of business-- we are a big book family, and have always loved going to the store, browsing, and often buying, books.  The Border's nearest us is about 1.5 miles from our house, and about .5 miles from my parents, so it has always been a frequent destination for walks.  Now we won't have any bookstores nearby.  Of course I have done a lot of book shopping online, so I guess I contributed to Border's demise, too, but nothing compares to a real live bookstore.  My heart also broke for the employees, running around like madmen with their jobs about to be taken away from them.  I remember when Border's was so popular that it put the small, independent shops out of business... things are always changing.