In memory of the mullet

CIMG1432
Originally uploaded by amykwelias.

On Brad's birthday, he convinced me to cut Elias's hair. Elias has been sporting a very trendy mullet since around December, 2005, and it has just been getting better and better with back hair growing longer and longer and front and sides in a steady holding pattern. Brad had brought up cutting the back a few months ago, but I think what sealed the deal for him was when Santa called him a girl. I don't know why it would bother Brad, what with him in long locks for so many years, but it did. So, on Brad's birthday, he convinced me that I should cut his hair so that Elias can see that it doesn't hurt and then, if all goes well, cut his hair too.

So, I start cutting Brad's hair with Elias on his lap. Brad is saying, "Don't cut there. Cut here. Okay, cut Elias's hair. Cut where your fingers are." Before I knew it, I was cutting off all of Elias's back hair. :-(

I really hadn't planned on it. It's like, I just want to push away all of those firsts, I guess, because the more firsts that pass, the more he moves away from being my baby to being my little boy, to being my boy' to being my adolescent, to being my young adult, to ...you get the picture. It's all just going by so fast. I think he does look just adorable, still, but there will never be the first haircut again and his hair will change and never be the same and I will miss it. And his mullet was beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with being called a girl. He's just beautiful and soft and sweet.

Christmas

Christmas came and went at the William's household. It was fun, but what can I say, the kids still think Santa is a freak and they are more interested, in many ways, in the bubble wrap that comes around the present than what's inside. There were some winners this year for Elias, depsite having to really coax him into unwrapping his gifts:

1. The triangle instrument (Elias wants to carry this around with him whenever we leave the house. He doesn't play the triangle, though. Mostly just holds it.)

2. Mousetrap-The Game

3. Replacement sugar bowl for his tea set

4. Basketball hoop and net

He's really enjoyed the books and puzzles and other toys, too, but has really taken a liking to these.

Yesterday, we went to OMSI with Oscar and there were literally 20 billion people there. It was a chaotic mass of miniature humans running to and fro, away from their parents beckoning them back. Ugh. This was not the day to go to OMSI. However, despite the crowd, we did fairly well until the very end when Oscar and Elias got into a tussle over some dehydrated peaches. First, Oscar throws himself on the floor because he is not allowed to hold the original bowl of peaches. Then, when offered some peaches in a secondary bowl, grabs the bowl and flings the peaches all over us. He proceeds back to the original bowl that Elias is still clutching. I intervene, to help stabilize the bowl. Oscar's mom comes to the rescue and removes Oscar from the bowl. But then, from out of nowhere, I find that Elias and I are now in a tussle over the bowl. I'm thinking, "NO! THIS ISN'T WHAT I'VE MEANT TO HAPPEN!" Elias is looking at me, screaming at me. I try to release the bowl to keep it from exploding everywhere. It's too late, Elias pulls the bowl and peaches are released into the atmosphere! In the midst of all of this, Dahlia is trolling around the floor eating peach and cheddar bunny debris. Nice, nice ending.

Funny little guy

While waiting for Daddy to show up at the restaurant this evening, Elias was entertaining himself with the packets of sugar. He was shaking them and respecting what we had discussed that shaking them and pretending to use them was okay. He excited shook the granulated sugar and looked at me and said "That makes a beautiful sounds!" tee hee.

sleeping prince

After being denied access to mommy's milkshake, things started going downhill this evening. He's been up there with dad for about 10 minutes crying, shrieking, shrill-screaming. I have debated going up, but feel as if I may have already done enough. Ugh. I believe yet again, we are moving into another phase.

Today was a great day. We got lots of errands done and everyone stayed pretty much together through it all. Problems began at nap, with an inordinate amount of kicking and hitting (what it this about?). After a great deal of rearranging and discomfort, Elias settled in to a position and gave in to sleep. He was holding onto my earlobe at the time. His limbs lighten and eventually, his hand just flops down on my face. I stealthfully sliver from under the blanket and look at him sleeping. Everybody always talks about watching their babies sleep. I know I haven't done this nearly as much as I should. He looks just like Brad when he sleeps. And, it's hard to image that he was so frustrated just a few minutes prior. So peaceful, my sweet.

Grandma Jean, Tiger and Tag

Today, we had one of our conversations about Grandma Jean and how she isn't here anymore. It started with a Christmas Tree Ornament, one that we had inheritied from Jean's vast Christmas decoration collection. It was a monogrammed one, and when we were putting it up on the tree yeaterday, I told Elias that it had belonged to Grandma Jean because it had her name on it. This morning, he pulled it off of the tree and said, "Momma, this one is Grandma Jean's. She's not around anymore." And this led to Elias remarking that she was at her house "cuz she's not around." We talked about how Grandma Jean was very sick and died, like the fish, which I had already forgotten the names of, but he chimed in with "Tiger and Tag (MAN, that boy has got a memory)." We talked about how Grandma Jean doesn't have a house because she died and is no longer around. A few minutes later, while I was in the kitchen, Elias followed me in, still holding the ornament and really trying to understand what it really meant to have died, he said to me, "Grandma Jean is not around." I said that was right. Then he said something like, "Grandma Jean loved Elias very much," and I said, that was right too.