Trouble with a Capital T

I got in trouble yesterday. Big trouble. If I was in school, I have a feeling I would have been writing the sentence "I will not torture my child" on the board 150 times.

We have OT every Wednesday morning and Ms. Ashley came out to the lobby to get Owen and turned to me incredulously, "did you cut his hair?!"

Me (sensing her obvious disapproval but not quite understanding why): "Yes."

 "With clippers?!"

"Yes?"

 "Did he freak out?"

(Uh-oh. I thought about asking her to define "freaking out" but I was pretty sure covering his ears and  begging me to stop would fall under that definition..... What to do here?.....I know, I'll do the mature thing and blame Owen.)

"Yes, but he's the one who wanted me to cut it! He wanted to look like his brother."

"Well, how did you get him to sit still?"

"Ummmmmmm.....I may have pinned him down and cut it really short so it would be a long time before he needed another hair cut."

If looks could kill......I would be buried six feet under right now.

"Mrs. Fischer, next time you want to cut his hair please let me know. I have a whole booklet of tips that will make it much less traumatic for him or we can do it here together."

"Right. Okay. I will definitely do that. Sorry."

After they left for the therapy rooms, Isaac (who was home sick) turned to me and said: "Mommy? Did you just get in trouble?" Yup. Big trouble. Because once again, I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I try to look at the world through Owen's eyes and understand how it feels to him, but clearly sometimes I fail. And that was an epic fail.

You see, the minute the clippers touched his scalp, I knew he didn't like it but it was too late. I knew it was freaking him out so I handled it the same way I handle the things in my life that I don't like: I barreled through and got it over with as quickly as I could. I cut it a lot shorter than I wanted to so he wouldn't have to go through that again any time soon. I thought that was being sensitive to his needs. Apparently not. Apparently I should have researched and learned the best ways to make him comfortable during the hair cut. Or maybe we should just go for the shaggy look from here on out?

 

Sorry, sweet boy.

Mama's learning.

In other news, it's crunch time.

Tomorrow is hospital day. We will spend the morning at UNC with various doctors and nutritionists. We have allowed more self feeding the last six weeks and tomorrow is crunch time. If his weight is up, we can continue giving him more freedom with eating. If his weight is down or remains the same, we tighten the reins once again and go back to all structured meals.

Please please please pray for a weight gain.

I've been wanting to see 27 pounds for a long time!

As for Ms. Ashley?

I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child. I will not torture my child.

Whew. Lesson Learned.