I wanna be like my mommy

When I decided to get my hair cut short, I didn't think about the fact that my daughter is usually watching me and wanting to imitate what her mommy does (well, except for things like cleaning up after oneself...and not punching David when he's irritating...not freaking out over bugs...and trivial matters like that). Well anyway, I got my hair cut on Tuesday afternoon, and by that night she had started asking to get her hair cut short like Mommy's. I matter-of-factly explained that Mommy and Daddy love her beautiful long hair and that she can get it short when she's thirty-one like Mommy. She gave me her "this discussion isn't over yet" look, but she dropped the subject. She mentioned it several times on Wednesday. I gently pushed back against the idea. I should have known that there was a lot more plotting going on in her head than she let on at the time. Wednesday night, as we were getting ready to leave for church, I put her hair in pigtails (i.e. two ponytails) and sent her out of my room to go get her shoes. When I finished getting myself ready a minute or two later, I headed out to see how she was doing, and I heard her sweet little voice upstairs calling, "No, David, you can't see me while I get my hair cut short!" I think my heart dropped into my stomach and my stomach twisted into dozens of knots simultaneously. There she sat with the scissors in her hand, and a rather bald spot of forehead where the middle of her bangs had been previously. I was horrified, yet at the same time, thankful and relieved that she took it to her bangs and not one of those lovely, long tails! Many tears and much discussion ensued in the following few minutes. When I showed her in the mirror the results of her DIY job, she burst from tears into downright wailing (yeah, even she could see that it was a hack job and not a style!!!). After we made sure that she understood that she was NEVER to take the scissors to anyone's hair ever again until she's a grown-up, her daddy lovingly assured her that it would grow back. Later Bruce and I discussed how much say she should be allowed to have in her hairstyle at this age. We decided that if she persisted in asking to get it cut like Mommy, we would trim a few inches off for her, which would still leave her with long hair but allow her to feel special like Mommy. But I had one more proverbial ace up my sleeve. Yesterday when she asked again for a haircut, I played it! I explained to her that if she had short hair, she wouldn't be able to have two braids. This has been her style of choice for a couple of weeks now. She contemplated for a minute, then hopped off my lap and went back to playing. She hasn't said a word about a haircut since. Hopefully that's the end of it for a few years! Who knew my millions-bucks cut would cause such a stir in my house?!