Twirlin'

When Aiden was a baby, I had very long hair, and each night at bedtime, he would rub a lock of my hair against his cheek. But when he was about a year old, I got tired of taking care of the long locks, and I cut them off to shoulder length. That first night, Aiden reached up, searching for my hair, but couldn't find it! After a few nights of frustration, though, Aiden learned a new soothing technique--he began twirling his own hair.

To this day, I can always tell when Aiden is tired, his hand absent-mindedly creeping up to his hair, his fingers twirling away. Last summer, on a late evening of playing outside, I even caught him trying to twirl his hair through his bike helmet--his fingers moving away on the top of his helmet, even though his hair was unavailable at the moment. Last week, we caught him trying to twirl through his baseball hat during practice. And just yesterday, while enjoying the Easter festivities at church, we snapped this picture of him twirling his hair while waiting in line to ride the giant slide.



I dread the day when he grows out of this adorable habit--it will mean my little boy is all grown up.