Because of all of his physical - as in, can't be hidden - changes he gets quite a bit of ribbing from his peers. Not only that, but he gets plenty of comments from adults, too. His peers are far kinder. The way I see it, as his mama, my job is to help him through all of his new challenges with as little affect on his ego and confidence as possible. This process has certainly taught me a great deal about being a mother. Primarily, I've learned to follow his lead most of the time and to simply be supportive and available; rather than controlling and interfering, in as much as that is possible.
There has been much made over Cole's facial hair. He's had a bit of a mustache for about a year now, and the errant chin hair. Lately there has been plenty of hair taking up residence along his jaw line and Cole spends a great deal of time trying to hide his beautiful face behind his hands. I mentioned that maybe he'd like to consider going to a real barber shop and having a real shave - with a straight-edge razor. He was fascinated and immediately his thoughts turned to Sweeney Todd and an enthusiastic "that would be cool".
A few weeks passed, and lo and behold, yesterday morning I get a note on MSN:
Cole: Mama, can I ask a question?
Me: Sure
Cole: #1 Can we go to Blockbuster and rent the Glee DVD?
Me: Sure, what is #2
Cole: Um, you saw that
Me: Yes
Cole: #2 Can I get that shave at the barber?
Me: Yep, when do you want to go?
Cole: Really? Now!
And off we went.
With Claire and Caden as official observers and me with my camera. I'm sure the Bronte Barber Shop had never experienced anything quite like that before! I reminded him a number of times that once you shave the first time you're stuck shaving forever. He was not backing down.
DURING:
Yes, pink walls.
He started with a haircut. Which in Cole's case is more of a weeding. His hair grows thick, not long.The process begins with a warm towel softening up the "beard".
The old fashioned shave brush applying the cream.
And, there is the first stroke. Officially my baby is a baby no more. A new era has begun.
Visions of Sweeney? I wasn't *too* worried, our nice European barber with the curly mullet knew what was going on, and welcomed Cole to adulthood once he was done.
It is scary having a complete stranger holding a sharp object to your child's neck. Alas, it all worked out well. Cole is thrilled. He's all tidied up. We left the barber shop (complete hair cut and shave a whopping $36) and went across the street to Shopper's Drug Mart where he is now the proud owner of a Gillette Fusion Razor and Edge Ampt Shave Gel - only after sniffing every brand and flavour there, he settled for Eclipse Bold Fragrance - we finished off with some Gillette Fusion After Shave. Altogether, about the same price as the cut and shave!
Then our newly cleaned up boy came home for Louis' inspection.
AFTER:
Cole looks like my baby again! Weird how his entrance into adulthood brought his baby face back. The "manscaping" will continue tonight with a bit of eyebrow work, he is insisting.
Do you have boys? Did you do anything special for them to mark this rite of passage or am I the only crazy mother out there? Um, maybe you don't need to answer that!
