Why I almost cried over hair
Isaac is my one and only laid-back, care-free, go-with-the-flow kid. He can be very whiny, but he's generallly easy to get along with and loves everyone. He's also ornery and adventurous and not scared of much. So the long-haired hippy style he's been rocking for 2 years has totally suited his personality. As an added bonus, it made it super easy to tell the twins apart. However, I always said if he wanted it short, I'd let him get it cut.
He recently got pretty insistent that he wanted his hair like Alex's and was tired of having it in his eyes.I trimmed his bangs, but that wasn't enough to make him happy. He still wanted it like Alex's. I tried explaining that his hair texture (super fine like mine) and face are different from Alex's (rounder), and it wouldn't look quite the same, but have you ever tried to reason with a 4-year-old? It's about like trying to nail jello to the wall. So I cut it, and cut it, and cut it. Holy moly! That kid had a lot of hair! And now it's all gone, and he looks a lot more like Alex. He's thrilled, but I'm sad.
I know that the hair doesn't make the kid, but it did reflect his personality so well. When people asked why their hair was different, I could point that out, and people sort of got it. Now they look so similar again that I'm afraid that people won't look closely enough to even see who they're talking to, let alone look beyond the surface and see how different their personalities are. They might treat them as one person again instead of unique individuals, because it's too much work to figure out who they're talking to. And that makes me sad, for my very different but equally loveable boys, and for the people who won't really get to know them. But I guess that's their loss. I just hate that it affects my boys.
Before:
Follow-up: I started this post a few weeks ago, the day I cut Isaac's hair. For whatever reason, it wouldn't post then, so I retyped it. Since then, my fears have been proven right in many instances, but not always. The people who know them already know their different personalities and voices, so they do okay with telling them apart. Their Sunday school teacher could tell them apart right away. Others, not so much. The real test will be in the fall when they start kindergarten and are meeting new people all the time.
He recently got pretty insistent that he wanted his hair like Alex's and was tired of having it in his eyes.I trimmed his bangs, but that wasn't enough to make him happy. He still wanted it like Alex's. I tried explaining that his hair texture (super fine like mine) and face are different from Alex's (rounder), and it wouldn't look quite the same, but have you ever tried to reason with a 4-year-old? It's about like trying to nail jello to the wall. So I cut it, and cut it, and cut it. Holy moly! That kid had a lot of hair! And now it's all gone, and he looks a lot more like Alex. He's thrilled, but I'm sad.
I know that the hair doesn't make the kid, but it did reflect his personality so well. When people asked why their hair was different, I could point that out, and people sort of got it. Now they look so similar again that I'm afraid that people won't look closely enough to even see who they're talking to, let alone look beyond the surface and see how different their personalities are. They might treat them as one person again instead of unique individuals, because it's too much work to figure out who they're talking to. And that makes me sad, for my very different but equally loveable boys, and for the people who won't really get to know them. But I guess that's their loss. I just hate that it affects my boys.
Before:
After:
Follow-up: I started this post a few weeks ago, the day I cut Isaac's hair. For whatever reason, it wouldn't post then, so I retyped it. Since then, my fears have been proven right in many instances, but not always. The people who know them already know their different personalities and voices, so they do okay with telling them apart. Their Sunday school teacher could tell them apart right away. Others, not so much. The real test will be in the fall when they start kindergarten and are meeting new people all the time.
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