Hair-Raising Prospect

When my younger sister was 4, she got her first major haircut. She went from having hair down her back to having it about shoulder length. Something about the change seemed to remove all signs of babyhood from her, and just like that, she no longer looked like a toddler.

Now, I'm considering getting my daughter her first haircut. She won't leave it tied back. Whenever I send her to daycare with her hair in a ponytail or pigtails, she pulls it down before I pick her up.

"I like it long," she told me when I asked why she took her hair down.

I don't like to see her hair in her eyes, so a haircut seems a logical remedy. But I can't help but remember what a change it made in my kid sister, and I just don't think I'm ready to look at my baby and not see a baby.