My baby is shaving

So, my son apparently passed quite a few stages in life and is now shaving. Yes, my baby is shaving.

Here's what happened...

After a week with four kids, our Friday nights really consist of the three of us (Mark, myself and Dylan) recharging our batteries, sometimes together, but mostly in front of a TV, dozing and just being in one another's company. Mark and I were fortunate to cuddle a few extra minutes together as Dylan went to take a bath. Nothing out of the ordinary...yet.
Dylan emerges from his bath within a normal time frame and is working his way back into the groove of what is now "E3" (3 Ericksons vs. 6 Ericksons - aka E6) and I notice that his eye looks funny. "What did you do?" I shout! "Mirror, now!" I stomp behind him to emphasize anger and to cover the fact that I'm scared and nervous about what my son has just done to his eyebrow.

Mark, knowing how hysterical I'm about to get, follows us into the bathroom without an invitation and proceeds to "Wimbeldon" view the conversation. In an instant, I'm sure my son is trying to grow up on me and decided to express himself by shaving one of his eyebrows AND that he's lying to me about it as well. He reiterates that he has no idea how his eye got like that. And I seriously mean this when I say, thank you Jesus for Mark being a boy...

I choose to excuse myself and Mark takes over the conversation on the tail end of another loud walking episode and a big "WOW" on my part (exit stage left) and as if to punish them for not seeing it my way, I go off and start cleaning another room (that'll teach 'em). As I'm cleaning, I begin to pray and breathe more deeply and allow the Spirit to calm me, realizing that whatever he did with the razor, God protected him by not having him be bleeding or shaving his eyeball out. I head back into the bathroom where both boys are talking in solid, quiet tones and I listen as the real deal is unveiled.

Turns out, Dylan has decided to shave his face like he's seen his dad do. He has grabbed my women's razor and lathered up his face and shaved his chin and neck area. The mishap came in when he went to rub soap out of his eyes and shaved off the upper part of his left eyebrow (look closely, can't you see the difference?, get closer, lean in...it's there!). He really did not have a clue that he'd done this and so escaped a big night of discipline as the explanation of how only women pluck, wax and upkeep their eyebrows was shared and that Taylor (who has 3.5 years on him) isn't even shaving yet and that he'd have his opportunity at the right time to shave for the rest of his life. We all chalked it up to a close call and prayerfully, a lesson learned.

As we walked out of the bathroom, I had to force my shoulders into a relaxed state, I was so stressed out about how bad it COULD have been. I truly believe that God gave me (moms see everything right?) enough of a signal to bring it to the carpet, so that we could lovingly teach and direct him beyond making the same choice again. Not only was it hard to swallow that two more inches down could have changed Dylan permanently, but that my son, my baby is growing up. He will be a man someday, right before my eyes he's heading in that direction and I need to get more ready than I thought I was.

Thankfully, there is a conscious effort to encourage his love for God and help him trust in God's love for him. I was reminded in an instant that this life, this time with my precious baby boy is temporary and that someday he'll choose for himself a college (if he chooses that at all), a wife and ultimately he'll choose (or not choose) God. I pray that his choices are swamped in scriptures and examples of godly men.

I pray that when he finally does begin to shave real hairs off of his face, that he'll be shaving as a young man who is in Christ.

(sigh) My baby's not a baby anymore.