We had been holding out on cutting Julien's hair until he turned two. I loved all of his curls and the way his soft flowy blonde hair kept getting a little longer, a little softer, and a little more curly. But after Julien turned two, we decided that it was getting a little unruly and it was time. We sought out suggestions for cute and gentle first haircut places and on a sunny Saturday morning, we headed up to Marin to the Panda Room.
We quickly realized that Julien needed to sit in Dadda's lap if we were going to make any progress on the hair cut!
The box of toys helped quite a bit! Distraction!
Our haircutter Colleen moved quickly.
Bye bye gigantic baby curls. Sniff, sniff.
A new structure and form for our little one's head of hair was taking shape. My little baby was transformed into a little boy before my eyes!
Colleen, the haircutter, gives the cut two thumbs up. Even Julien seems semi-okay with it all. We left with a cute certificate with a polaroid picture, some of Julien's snipped hair curls, and our comments about the experience. For the scrapbook!
One of the best parts about the first haircut is that Grams, gal pal Veronica, and mom Jennifer came to witness it and provide moral support for little Julien. Veronica and Julien enjoyed toddling about Corte Madera and in the playroom at the Panda Room after the haircut.
The winning "after" shot!
I miss Julien's curls. In my two years of being a Momma, I have learned that motherhood is about letting go. So last Saturday June 11th, 2011, I let go of my baby's baby curls and embraced him becoming a little man with short hair.
Hi everybody! It's me, Julien the Toddler! Here I am ringing a big bell! Can you guess where I am?? Ding dong! As you can see from the picture... I'm ringing the bell! Fortunately, the hammer is sized perfectly for my hands! Finally, I'm waving Bye Bye to the bell! After all, I got such joy from ringing the bell, so I wanted to say Farewell to the bell! Have you guessed where I am? OK I'll tell you. This is at The Discovery Museum, on May 19! Yes, the place with the train & boat room, the Tonka trucks, and other fun spots. There's a hiking trail with this fantastic bell. Who would have guessed that I'm at a Museum??? This was towards the end of our adventures with Zealand, when we all took a short hike and then I wanted to ring the bell while Zealand and his mommy trekked onwards. I rang the bell, then we caught up with Zealand. Fun times! Like I said before, we look forward to returning to The Discovery Museum. Love, Julien!
Hi everybody! It's me, Julien the Toddler! I'm really 2 years old. Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes. I really appreciate it! I wanted to share some more pictures and adventures from our visit at the Discovery Museum on May 19, 2011. This is almost a month ago, with our friends Zealand and his mommy Chelsea. Incidentally Zealand has just become a big brother - now he has a baby sister named Avery! So big congratulations to Zealand and his parents and of course to Avery! That's so exciting. Anyway back to the Discovery Museum - they have a platform with a ramp and Tonka trucks. The Tonka trucks are for everyone to share, very fun! So Zealand and I, along with some other toddlers, rode with the Tonka trucks. Here are some fun pictures! Here I am with a Tonka truck, heading downhill. Meanwhile, Zealand and another boy are with their own Tonka trucks, and they are going uphill! Oh dear... will there be a collision? But fortunately there is no collision because Zealand and the other boy parted as I descended and they ascended. In fact, as you can see, Zealand ascended quite quickly... and this sets the tone for our next scene! Meanwhile, I'm heading to the bottom of the ramp. This was a lot of fun! Here's a set of pictures where we are all at the top of the ramp, all planning to descend. Although we are not racing with each other, we all are trying to move fast, since we're all active boy toddlers! As you can see, I'm "Caught in the Middle" between Zealand and the other boy. And yes, that was for you, DOJ! "Even though I'm with someone new All I can think about is you And now I'm caught, Caught in the middle" A1 (yes, that's for my daddy! Remember, he likes to turn me upside down and then get turned upside down in his Pilates class - classic whackjob daddy!) But as you can see, Zealand has already moved downhill very quickly, much faster than me, but even more faster than the other boy! And again I must emphasize that we weren't in an official race. Still, I was very happy for Zealand as he had his victory roar. He deserves it! And these are just some examples of our Tonka adventures at The Discovery Museum! Very excellent and fun. There really is no way I would have this fun if not for Zealand introducing this place to me. I look forward to returning there! Thanks again to Zealand and Chelsea for introducing us to The Discovery Museum! love, Julien
Happy birthday Julien! It's DOJ, aka your daddy! And you're now 2 years old. It's hard to believe. Time flies when we're having fun. We've had a lot of fun throughout the past 2 years, ever since the day we first met at the hospital! I've had a lot of amazing "firsts" with you! I got to experience your first giggle, when you were not even a full month old. That is an amazing memory, made even more joyful that Mommy and I were there together with you for that first laugh. Then there was that time I was able to take a picture of you when you had a big smile - this is when you were just over 2 months old! Not only were Mommy and I with you for your first travels, but we all had a lot of fun together! I'm forever amazed about that day when we first saw you walking (without any assistance), on Monday July 26. I didn't get pictures of you walking that day, but I was lucky enough to film you walking a couple days later. Here are some fun pictures from that first day of walking, when we hosted some other babies (and their parents) at our house! Here you are in our living room, walking with the assistance of the couch as your support! Lily, who was already walking, is offering her moral support while Eli watches from afar. Later that day you carefully made your way out of the house, respecting the steps as you navigated towards our car. Once you discovered your ability to walk, you realized how much there is to discover. We've had a whole lot of fun as we've all learned what you enjoy doing. You're very independent, yet also aware of when you may want to have assistance from Mommy and me! While in the Rhodie Shores, you enjoyed exploring in the beach but still were careful to hold hands as the tide rose! You knew that we had a whole camera crew to help if needed, but you still wisely chose to hold my hand! While at a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, you wanted to explore with both hands free! And at London's Santarchy, you were quite content to rest in my arms while you greeted the Santas! Of course, we've been very fortunate to take some very exciting pictures with you. As you're growing up, your own personal skills and knowledge are increasing. Just yesterday (June 3), you not only said "Thank you" but you added "Dadda" to say "Thank you, Dadda" - knowing that you weren't just being thankful, but that you were being thankful to me. That is amazing to think about - it reminds me of when you greeted me with a "Hi Dadda!" on Christmas Eve 2010. You're social as ever - you enjoy waving and greeting people and animals of all ages. The past session of Park & Rec classes were more fun than ever as you got to better know your fellow toddlers. It's so sweet to see you making friends with other babies. But maybe that's no surprise, because we all remember how excited you were to see Ruby and her parents after we were apart for 2 weeks - and this was back in August 2010! I'll close off this blog with American Spring's "Fallin' in Love" video, a song that perfectly encapsulates the love that Mommy and I have for our little Julien!
