lousy daycare (literally)

erik has needed a haircut for awhile now, but after finding out this morning that one of the kids in his daycare class has head lice, he finally got one. (itch itch, scratch, scratch ... can't stop scratching my head now!) i gave his too long hair a cursory examination this afternoon and didn't see anything, but he still needed a haircut and i figure if he needs to be treated it will be much simpler if his hair is short. peter and i took him down to the local hair salon and he did amazingly well. it was his fourth haircut ever ... the last one was just before thanksgiving. this was the first time he actually sat in the chair by himself (the other times he sat in peter's lap or mine). he was a little squirmy, but didn't move too much or get really upset. i took my camera with the intentions of getting some nice pictures, but (for the second time) i forgot to put the memory card in after transferring pictures to the computer last time, so i had to use peter's phone to get the obligatory 'before' and 'during' photos.

here's my shaggy-headed boy in the chair before his haircut:



and an action shot - during the haircut:



here is the 'after' shot, later this evening:



maybe he didn't like it very much, because he decided to use peter's starbuck's bag as a hat. actually he was just imitating his silly daddy.



i think it turned out pretty well considering the amount of squirming he did. haircuts have a way of making him look a whole lot older, but i think it's a good change. and in the unfortunate event that he does end up with head lice (scratch scratch), well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

let's see ... i haven't updated my blog in awhile, so in other news ...

on monday i had to present in 'research in progress' (rip, appropriately) which of course made me crazy stressed and nervous for like a month beforehand. no matter how many times i do it, i just can't get comfortable with speaking in front of a crowd, in this case all of the students in my program and one other program. i put together what i thought was a very cohesive and thorough presentation with lots of cool pictures and not too much text, and actually practiced it a few times over the weekend. i was still nervous as hell, but i think i did a much better job presenting than last year, and finished it without really stumbling over my words TOO much. my mentor told me i did a great job, and i even got a lot of positive feedback from other students, which made me feel good. but mostly i'm just relieved that i won't have to do this again until next year.

over the weekend we took erik to the playground at schenley park (and i didn't even take pictures!) and we went to the mall and let erik ride the easter train and the little merry-go-round, which he enjoyed.









i even snapped an increasingly rare self portrait with my adorable husband:



i guess that's all i have for right now. it's been an interesting week so far, and it's only tuesday. i'm hoping to get a lot done in the lab this week, so i really need the luck of the irish for everything to work out the way it should. my fingers are crossed ...