The Haircut that Launched the Pity Party

We finally broke down and gave Leo a haircut this weekend.

Here's a "before" shot.
Don’t let the smile fool you. Just a few hours after this picture was taken Leo was transformed into a terrified, hysterical, maniacal little person, convinced he is Under Attack.

I’ve mentioned before that Leo has a thing about getting his haircut. The last time he had an official haircut, like, by a professional, he kicked the hairdresser in the face and ended up leaving with a very unfortunate crewcut. I’m pretty sure Leo’s picture is up at that salon with the words “Do Not Service” close by.

Really, the word “ballistic” just barely begins to describe Leo’s reaction to a haircut. Both Erin and I have to hold him down while one of us does the cutting or buzzing (we thought using clippers might help but apparently they are just as terrifying as scissors). This task falls to Erin because she’s a way better hair cutter than I am.

The scene on Saturday night was bad. Really, really bad. I’m talking, gasping for air and foaming at the mouth and screaming-so-hard-he-had-no-voice-left bad. And I’m sure you’re thinking well for god’s sake just let the poor boy have long hair! But there’s a whole mess of issues that go along with that, namely I feel like our kids have enough stacked against them. They need to be well-groomed. And just to be clear, I think longish hair on boys is fine, it's just difficult to keep Leo's longish hair in good shape.

Back to that scene on Saturday night. And what must have poor Ellie thought? She stood in the doorway cringing in silence. I hope she wasn’t taking notes on how to behave for her next styling session.

Who knows why haircuts affect Leo so. Is it sensory (isn't everything sensory these days?) Is it all those years of being poked and prodded by various insensitive ENTs? And what must Leo think of us? His parents who are coming towards him with sharp metal objects?

I’ll be honest about the haircutting fiasco/trauma. It depressed me. I know there are kids without Down syndrome out there who don’t like getting their haircut but I doubt there are many who act the way Leo does at age five. Most days, I really do go along on my merry way, fine with things. And in many instances, Leo truly is the “easier” one of our two kids. And I also know that if pitching a full-on fit for a haircut is the worst thing you can say about a little boy than it's not all that bad.

But sometimes, the littlest things (a haircut? Really?) are just so shockingly hard. And then I look at these pictures of Leo playing in the leaves on Sunday.




As his grandpa has said before, Leo really enjoys his life.

The end result (I know, I know, but it's the best I could get) it's a cute little "Ceaser" cut--think George Clooney).

And I try to remember that the good far, far outweighs all that bad, shockingly hard stuff.