Its amazing how a simple thing such as a undergoing your virgin haircut can morph a baby into a boy.Ok, so perhaps that is a little over dramatic. But as a Mum it’s rather startling to see your son suddenly change before your eyes. I thought I was tending to a toddler and feel suddenly that I have a small man on my hands. Ironic that as adults we get haircuts in the hope it will make us look younger, but it has quite the opposite effect in ones so young!
It throws up new questions to me as well about how my boy will be received in public. I’ll admit I have guiltily enjoyed all the praise and adulation heaped on my son from veritable strangers, right from his days as a precious scrumpled newborn babe. “What a cute little baby”, people would coo at me “so gorgeous” and proceed to chat away to the boy who also devoured the extra attention quite voraciously. Cue soppy smiles and glowing eyes all round and I’d hug the knowledge to me tightly that I was a mum to one adorable son.
I sense a change in the air – ill winds blowing our way. What was once considered cute will soon be labelled as naughty and disarming charm is being replaced by infantile disobedience. I heard reproach tinge the voice of an old lady as my “spirited” son refused to get out of the way when she went to open a shop door. And once, as we let Harrison race ahead, I heard a father remark to his son, of roughly the same age: “You know better than to run off like that, don’t you” he reprimanded from afar, criticism lacing his words and leaving me startled that he’d just assumed we had no control over our son.
I guess there must come a time when we shed what were once seen as endearing traits for aggravating ones. I’m just not ready for the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune to reign down publicly on my once revered baby boy!
As this next chapter unfurls at least we can make Harrison secure in the knowledge we will love him, regardless of his often “spirited” nature which at times is beginning to get tricky to manage. And I suppose, if one looks down life’s tunnel to see where the road may take him, I’d choose a livewire son full of enthusiasm and energy over one who sat passively and let everyone else assume control of his life. Buckle up baby, the ride is well and truly about to begin!
