"Mommy, do you yike my haircut?"

As soon as she said it, I screamed.

We had been playing out in the snow all afternoon. We came in and she went to play in her room for some quiet time. That usually means "reading" books for about an hour. Or ten minutes.

She has some "preschool" scissors that are usually put up with her art supplies. High on her shelf. Ha.

She likes to cut paper snowflakes when she is at home with her daddy. She has been told over and over that she can only cut paper. And, with the exception of one sad pair of socks, she has never cut anything but paper.......until now.

I was sitting on Mom's couch watching some good ol' Olympics when I heard her slightly behind me. "Mommy, do you yike my new haircut??"

She said it beaming with pride; she obviously loved her new haircut.

What did I do? I would like to tell you that I slowly turned to her, first removing the dangerous scissors from her little fingers, then assessing the damage and while I kept my calm. That, however, is not quite how it went down.

I froze. And I screamed. And I busted into tears. And I never turned around to look. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," I wailed. Mom quickly jumped from her chair and picked Emma Kate up. She grabbed the scissors and began to ask Emma Kate what all she cut. Then I heard her say, "Amy, it is okay, it is not that bad."

I was still frozen and still crying. I know, Mom of the Year, right??

About this time, Mike walks in. I am still crying. Mom has Emma Kate in the bathroom, who instead of beaming with pride, is now scared to death and crying because of my mature reaction. Mike takes one look at Emma Kate, and sees that she is covered in Spaghetti-o sauce, although he does not know it Spaghettio sauce. He puts a) scissors, b) momma wailing and 3)"red stuff on her shirt" together in his own mind and thinks Emma Kate has cut off her digits or stabbed herself.

I am still crying.

Finally, we all convene in the bathroom where I finally stop crying and am able to tell my child that it is "OK" and that it will "grow back" and that she "should never do that ever ever again."

Overall, it is not bad at all. Could have been much worse. She gave herself some bangs, which my dear friends tell me (to make me feel better) that it looks like "baby hair." Luckily she has very thick hair and other than the bangs she did not make any clean cuts. She did thin the right side out a bit and give herself some layers, but again, everyone assures me you cannot tell.