We've been meaning to get Stephen's hair cut since he turned one. It didn't help that everyone in our extended families told us that "He looks fine! We love it when our grandson looks like a girl!" Okay, I'm paraphrasing. You can see below that it's not overly long, really, he just has a lot of wings. His hair started out so thin, maybe it's a good thing we waited until now.

Before

So anyway, we scoped out a kids hair-cutting place at our mall a while back ($12 for a boy's cut). Well, it only took us six months to get down there. We had some plans fall through on Saturday and decided to use the time to get Stephen's hair cut. When we checked the hours of the place, we were surprised to notice that they were open until 9:30pm! We headed down there in the late afternoon.

As crappy as it is, I love our local mall (what kind of mall has both a Target and a Wal Mart inside it, anyway?) It's so close and parking is easy! We parked and strolled in. Stephen immediately was placed in a chair that looked like a little car (with a free-spinning steering wheel) and the lady put Elmo's World on the TV. They still had a large collection of VHS stuff at this place. I got a kick out of that. He was very good while she cut his hair. Jaime got a few locks in a ziplock bag and then she pulled out the electric clippers. The whole experience didn't take long at all; we were out of there in no time.

After

The changes are pretty subtle in the front, but in the back, he looks completely different. Good job, asian lady at the hair cuttery place!

Stephen protests mightily during 90% of his diaper changes nowadays. I know this is normal and inevitable, but it's still hard to deal with. He screams, kicks, and does barrel rolls while I'm trying to change him. I'm not sure if he thinks it's a waste of time (would rather be playing) or if he just doesn't want me to have control over him for one minute. The only time he doesn't mind being changed is right after he wakes up. He can not stand to be fed, either. He has to be feeding himself and smearing food in his hair or he's not happy.

We have reached the age where the child can pick up bad habits from his parents. We began to refrain from cursing around him when he turned 1, but there are other things he picks up on that he shouldn't. He loves to stick his index finger in his nose, and my wife can not seem to stop herself from laughing (and therefore encouraging him). Also, whenever I open the door to the bathroom on the main floor, Stephen goes in and spits in the toilet. There's no way that I can blame that one on his mother. Two minutes ago he was trimming his thumb nail.... with his teeth. This can't be good.

He may or may not be saying his first word: "uh-huh." He says it while nodding his head. He answers every single question with an "uh-huh," which makes me believe he doesn't quite have a handle on it. He listens for you to raise your voice at the end of a sentence (the vocal intonation used for a question) and answers "uh-huh" to everything. He understands a lot of words now and he loves to help. He helps me feed the dogs, empty the dishwasher, and even clean up his toys. He loves cooking--watching me cook, or pretending to cook and ruining my pots.

My parents, grandmother, and great aunt came through here on Monday. Having six adults in our house is like having two dozen adults in your house. It felt good to make a big dinner and have everyone around the table. Six is the maximum for our table (two on each side and one on each end), and Stephen ate in his highchair. It also involved juggling with limited counter space in the kitchen to get everything finished at the same time. Classy Chicken, mashed potatoes, "homestyle" macaroni and cheese, cottage cheese. Later we had sundaes and everything was a pleasant success. It took three loads of dishes to catch up with that meal.