thanks...for the bad haircut!

I took my girls to our new church today--they give free hair cuts there as a service to the community, gotta love that. All the way there, my eldest, SuperGirl, tries to convince me to cut her hair "short like Daddy's!"
I stall.

I say no.

I think of reasons to wait.

I really don't mind if she wants short (SHORT) hair...ok, maybe I do a little...but I just have this MOM feeling that what she thinks she wants and what she actually wants are two different things.
We get there and SuperGirl announces to Peggy, our hairdresser, that she wants short hair that is "short like Daddy's".

Peggy looks at me.

I stall.

I say no.

I think of reasons to wait and verbalize them to SuperGirl.

Peggy, oh brilliant hairdresser, says,"Let's start with a trim and then you can tell me to go shorter if you and Mom like it."
I smile at Peggy. She's a pro, I'll give her that.

She places the cape around SuperGirl's neck. SuperGirl makes a stink about how it hurts her neck, pretends that she's having trouble breathing (sorta) and declares that this is no fun. I, once again, repeat the mantra that I have said over and over for the last year it seems, " SuperGirl, what kind of attitude do you have right now?"
She responds, "I'm not being saucy Mom. I just don't like it."
I ask her, "Do you know what you look like?"
Her wide blue eyes stare blankly at me.
"A whale." I answer, "But I cant' figure out which one you are. Are you a blue whale? A humpback whale? A bowhead whale?"
SuperGirl starts giggling and keeps changing her mind as to what whale she is. Peggy starts trimming SuperGirle's hair and gives me a smile and a look that says, "You're a pro, I'll give you that."

Peggy works as fast as she can. I am now exhausting my knowledge on whales. I'm asking SuperGirl whether she is a baleen whale or a toothed whale. She says baleen, and the guessing game starts again. All is going well until Peggy moves behind SuperGirl to cut the last bit of hair at the back.
What SuperGirl didn't realize is that while we were playing our little game, Peggy was cutting, or rather, barely snipping a centimetre off of SuperGirl's hair. SuperGirl's eyes grow big as she realizes that her bangs are now a bit shorter.
"Oh no!" she exclaims. "I hate it. Mom, I look like a boy!"

Peggy and I both try not to laugh.

SuperGirl, horrified at the centimetre cut off of her hair is the same little girl who, moments earlier, was requesting a "short haircut like Daddy's".
Peggy finishes up while SuperGirl repeatedly declares her disgust of this hairdo gone wrong.
She stares in the mirror as Peggy removes the grey cape that is covering her.
“I look like a boy.”
Her little eyebrows come down on her face meeting with the scowl that has spread it’s way to her wrinkled nose of disgust. She crosses her arms.
“Oh boy,” I think, “Another teachable moment about attitude in life.”
I assure SuperGirl that she doesn’t look like a boy, that she is as beautiful as ever and that she still has nice hair.
She starts climbing down from the chair and I ask her to say thank you to Peggy.
She then loudly proclaims, “I’m not going to say thank you. I don’t like this haircut. It makes me look like a boy!”
Mortified, I try a few times to coerce a thank you out of SuperGirl. I remind her that it’s okay not to like her haircut, but she still needs to appreciate that Peggy did her best and was willing to cut her hair.

SuperGirl just shakes her head no.

I leave her be while I get my hair cut. There has to be a cooling off period for everyone sometimes. And, while I hate to admit it to SuperGirl, this is only one of the first of many misadventures that she will have throughout her hair life. She has years ahead of her to enjoy the mystery of entering into a salon, sit in a spinning chair where you are at the mercy of some artist wielding a pair of sharp scissors. All the while, you are inwardly saying to yourself, “If it turns out terrible, I will go home and find either a hat or a bearable way to style it until my hair can grow out long enough to try this all over again!”

My hair is finished and we are ready to go. After SuperGirl apologizes for drawing on the wall, I say, “Is there anything else you ‘d like to say to Peggy?”
SuperGirl’s wide eyes and calm face look at Peggy and she demurely says, “Thank you, Peggy.”
My heart soars. I smile at Peggy. Peggy smiles at me. All things are right with the world. Somewhere, somewhere I have been getting through to my sometimes stubborn four year old.
As we walk to our van, I touch SuperGirl’s shoulder and say, “ SuperGirl, I’m really proud of you. I know you don’t like your hair cut, but it was nice of you to recognize the hard work Peggy did while cutting your hair.”
SuperGirl skips along as she says ,”Oh Mom, I wasn’t thanking Peggy for cutting my hair. I thanked her for cutting yours and Missie Moo’s hair. I hate my haircut. She made me look like a boy!”