Are y’all combing the boy’s hair?

My granddaddy is 94 years old. Physically he is still pretty solid and mentally he has the memory of an iPhone 7. He can recall dates/times of exactly where he was overseas during WWII or what was happening the moment he walked to the preacher’s house with my grandma to get married, without anyone knowing. (They both went back to their separate houses that night and didn’t tell their families until the next day.)

My granddaddy Jack is so in love with my baby boy. We jokingly call him ‘lil Jack’ over at their house because he not only looks like him, his movements and facial expressions are truly that of an old man. And it’s like he knows exactly what he is doing too. You know the old saying “that boy has been here before”. Well, it’s true and hilarious and he loves the attention.

My newly two-year old son also has these unbelievable curls that just spiral on for days and I can really pack them in with a few pats on the head with my hands cuffed. When I select a small section of curls and pull it out, people are always surprised how buoyant and long they will extend.

All that aside, my granddaddy just does not get curly hair.  I mean when my daughter’s hair was first growing out he’d say “what y’all doing with her hair!?” 😂 “Granddaddy, what do you mean, I already did her hair. It’s suppose to look like that.” Cue silence. 😳  Then my sweet, 87-year old grandma would jump in fussing at him by saying, “Hush Jack, leave that baby’s hair alone.” It could have been a scene straight out of ABC’s Blackish. 

So naturally now that Elijah had his first cut over five months ago, it has gotten long again. We are probably overdue to get his next one, but I have this back and forth struggle with cropping his beautiful ringlets. Not to mention my husband wants to be “in charge” of our son’s hair on “barbershop days” (blog coming soon) while I’m usually left (not all the time, but often) chasing him across the room before school with a water spray bottle and a dab of Mixed Chicks Leave In Conditioner in my hands.

My dream haircut for him is a little side fade with it slightly cut at the top so the curls are still full and plentiful. And it will stay only a dream until he learns to sit still in a barber chair. If anyone knows what age that happens, please let me know. For now I just make sure I give some attention to his hair before visiting my grandparents house so granddaddy knows we are taking care of his baby, haha! Love these curly courtship adventures.

Married for 65 years… Photo Credit: Ventola Photography