Monday, July 17, 2006

The Cat Ate My Baby's Hair!


So there are a myriad of things I've had on my mind to write about: the state of affairs in the Middle East, the issue of "designer babies," being stewards of what we're given. But all of that will come a little later as I gather my thoughts. In the meantime, my discovery this morning leads me to the above.

We gave Brennan his first hair cut yesterday - a big milestone, at least as far as Mommy's concerned. To me, it signifies a step toward big-boyness. Only older kids and adults get haircuts, right? Well, not when your baby is often mistaken for having a little toupee on top of his sweet head. So we had his 6-month photos scheduled for yesterday and thought, "this is as good a time as any." Plus with the 97 degree weather and humidity, we thought it would help to cool him off if he didn't have curls hanging on his neck. And really a couple people said "Oh, what a cute little girl" and that pretty much sealed it for Don.

So, as any good parents would, we documented this momentous event with pictures of each of us attempting to evenly cut a baby bobble head. It's definitely not even, but he immediately looked like a "little boy" from the back. We didn't cut too much from the front though - baby steps, y'know. So, again as good parents, we gathered the lovely little locks and placed them in a ziplock baggie for safe keeping until they go in his baby book. The bag was set atop his armoire - safe and inconspicuous - or so we thought.

This morning I walk into the living room to be greeted by a long dark spot on the rug. In my bleary-eyed semi-wakefulness, I immediately groaned thinking Snickers had thrown up. Well then, to my chagrin, I noticed a little ripped ziplock bag next to the brown pile and realized in a flash that it was my precious baby boy's hair that my cat was attempting to feast on! I stomped toward Snickers, who knew that he was in trouble for something, and put his face down by the hair telling him, "no."

Now I know that you have to catch cats in the act, or else they really won't understand that what they've done is wrong, but I think Snickers had a clue. Not only had he jumped on top of the armoire (no-no), he'd gotten something that was, for some reason, very important to me. Why on earth did I really need to save Brennan's hair? Who knows. I guess for me, it's just another part of my baby growing. In any event, it made me realize that sometimes when I think something is safe, it really is ripe pickings for a crazy cat who has a fetish for paper bags.

The miraculous thing is that it looks like he didn't actually eat too much, if any, of the hair. So other than having cat slobber on it, I think the hair will still be nicely placed in Brennan's baby book with a little blue bow tied around it. Maybe with a picture of Snickers beside it...