Rapunzel, Rapunzel...

My little autistic biscuit does not like to have his hair cut. Ethan has always been this way, since he was a baby. He doesn't seem to have sensory issues otherwise, but haircuts (and often hair brushing) are out of the question. He has to suffer through having his hair brushed before school every day, and he isn't happy about it. He runs away, and when I catch him he throws his head back and forth as wildly as he can. The good news is he has a lovely, thick head of hair that is curly. It always looks a little wild, and a LOT cute, even though 95% of the time he looks shaggier than Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Ethan has his 4th birthday coming up, and Sunday is his birthday party. I wanted him to have his hair cut for the party, and for Christmas, and so my mom could attempt to take a picture of my three kids together in some pretty Christmas outfits. He hasn't had his hair cut since maybe...September? And it grows fast and furious like mine does. Anyway, Travis took Ethan to get a haircut today at my urging. It didn't go well. Ethan had a huge meltdown. I mean HUGE. So all we ended up with was a majorly unhappy child, a stressed-out Daddy, and no haircut. I looked it up, and just as I suspected it is VERY common for autistic kids to hate haircuts. (Do you watch Parenthood on NBC? Well you should, because it's great. There is a character with Aspberger's on the show who is 9 years old and has very shaggy hair. I always thought that must be on purpose and must be extremely accurate, based on my own experience.) Travis and I were talking about it afterwards and we decided Ethan just may be one of those kids that has long, curly, fabulous, shaggy hair for a while, until this issue resolves or we can figure out how to make it better. He will be the redheaded, male version of Rapunzel. And that's okay with me. So if you notice my very shaggy child, DON'T tell me he needs a haircut. He doesn't need a haircut as much as he needs to feel happy and safe. I will figure this out. I just haven't yet.

A couple of pictures from Rapunzel's shaggier (and cute-as-can-be) moments:

Oh, my precious boy. I love him! <3