My 2-year-old best friend

Like any working mom, I sometimes have to go pick my son up from daycare because he's sick.  There have been other times, however, fortunately few and far between, where I have to go pick my son up from daycare because he's tricked his teacher into thinking he's sick.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I got to his classroom, and he was just sitting on his mat, eyes downcast.  When he saw me he came running over and buried his face in my leg, hugging on for dear life.  I picked him up and he laid his head on my shoulder, whimpering pitifully.

"He's been like that all day!" his teacher exclaimed.  "He hasn't had a fever or upset stomach, but he just keeps crying, and won't nap, and he wouldn't even eat lunch."

My son continued to cling to my neck, face buried in my collarbone, while we walked out of eyesight of his teacher.  By the time we got to the stairwell, he was sitting up in my arms and giggling.  At the top of the stairs, he squirmed down and wanted to open the door for me.

Out in the hall, he started that stream-of-consciousness chattering of which only toddlers and teenage girls with webcams are capable.  As we walked out the door to the parking lot, he shouted, "Let's go!  Let's go take a ride in mama's car!"  (Phonetically, "Go take wide in mama cah!")

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Don't touch me.

So, as I've written about before, I have a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder.  It's pretty much under control, but there are still certain things I struggle with.

And what a lot of people don't realize that, with OCD, you don't just have compulsions.  There are also a lot of aversions that come hand-in-hand with it.

For me, there's only a few little things that bother me deeply (styrofoam, prime numbers, etc.) but there is one very big issue.

I am very uncomfortable with physical contact.

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8PP's Guide to Lazy Fashion

As I've mentioned before, I've been someone distressed by my apparent (to me) increasing rate of hair loss.

Since I was tired of wearing my hair in a bun every day, and since it's been almost 2 years since I've had one, I went and got my hair cut yesterday, into a style that stylists call an "inverted bob".  Since it's short in the back and long in front, I call it a "reverse mullet".

It only took me about 50 minutes in the chair and 50,000 assurances to the stylist that, yes, I knew it was going to be very short, it's fine if she wanted to use the clippers, I've had it this short before, no, I'm not going to sue you if you chop all my hair off.

Because I had a coupon, my haircut was only $10.  (I tipped an extra $5.)

Afterwards I dyed it bright red again because, hey, with coupons I can get L'Oreal Feria (the most awesome, well-conditioning brand of color out there) for five bucks.

So, hair-wise at least, I look a bit like Rihanna in the picture above.  Just with blue eyes.  And a lot less make-up.  And melanin.

The best part?  With these trendy little short styles, especially with an unnatural color, it looks like I'm putting all this thought and effort into my appearance, when actually, I just run pomade through it in the morning and then drive to work with my windows down.  It's really hard for most people to tell the difference between "messily stylish" and "just messy".

I also like to pretend that my clothes aren't "things-I've-held-onto-since-middle-school" but "vintage".

Now I just need a good excuse for why my fingernails always look like crap.

Not exactly the look I was going for...

A few years ago, when my husband and I were newlyweds, I worked for a bit at a tropical fish store.  I was good at my job, and enjoyed it, but one of the biggest hassles was keeping my almost waist-length hair out of the tanks.  It was so thick that binding it up tight, like in a bun, was just about impossible (at least without snapping a few hair ties in the process).  I most commonly resorted to either braiding it, or tying it back in a ponytail, with hair ties segmenting it every few inches down, to keep it manageable.

My husband, at the time, also had awesomely long hair, but his is naturally curly and highlighted, so he always looked like an '80s rock-god type.  We made the decision for both of us to cut off our hair and donate it to Locks for Love (a charity that uses donated hair to make wigs for cancer patients).

For a long time, I loved my spiky short haircut.  Because my hair was so thick, I could keep it chin-length in front, buzzed short in back, and just run mousse through it in the morning.

My husband, too, looked very handsome with his new, more mature hairstyle.  We figured we'd both just keep growing our hair back out to donate again.

And his hair looks great.  It's a little bit shorter than shoulder-length now, all curly and highlighted, and makes him look like a surfer or something.

As for mine, well, I'm kind of wanting my Locks for Love donation back.

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To cut, or not to cut...

My husband and I are having a bit of a parenting disagreement as to something pertaining to our son's...hygiene. I think the way it is now looks messy and stays too dirty. His dad wants to just let it be natural and not cut it.

What? No, I'm not getting into the circumcision debate. I'm talking about his hair. His gorgeous, downy, blonde (really, yellow) baby hair is getting a bit too shaggy for my tastes, and I really want to take him to get his first haircut.

My husband thinks it's cute, and that babies are supposed to look messy. My point is that he's a year-and-a-half, more toddler than baby, and is starting to rock a Joe Dirt-esque mullet.

So, what do you think? Is 18 months too early or too late for baby's first haircut?

Oh, and as for the whole circumcision thing...We had that done in the hospital when he was born, and the only thing the nurse asked me about it was whether or not I would allow them to use a topical analgesic to numb the area. I agreed, not just to minimize my baby's pain, but because my male relatives assured me that they would tell him when he was older if I didn't.