Harold's 1st Haircut (Bedtime Story)

Bedtime with Mrs.

Honeybee.

Today,

In the Honeybee neighborhood,

We'll give Harold his first haircut.

That's right,

Boy.

This haircut is long overdue.

His hair almost covers his eyes.

Aw,

Come here,

Boy.

I know you're a little scared.

It's okay.

I'll be right here with you.

I'll be here with you too,

Harold.

I've got a few treats in my pocket,

Just in case things don't go as planned.

Don't scare him,

My dear.

Everything will be just fine.

We get haircuts all the time.

Not me.

The only scissors I let near me are pruners.

I give plant haircuts,

Though,

I guess.

Even plants get haircuts,

Harold.

You're going to look so handsome after.

And you'll be able to see.

All you have to do is close your eyes,

Get cozy,

And listen to the sound of my voice.

Mrs.

Honeybee will be your guide.

Let's begin.

You are here,

Standing in front of our brightly colored front door,

Lifting your hand to knock.

The sun is shining down on your back,

So you turn around to face the door while you wait for us to answer.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel your chest and your spirits lift,

Wondering what today's visit will bring.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and let the sunshine warm your cheeks until you hear Harold running and barking toward the door like usual.

But this time,

Unlike usual,

You hear Harold run in a completely different direction.

His barks don't sound like they're getting closer.

You turn toward the door,

Wondering where he went,

Just as Mr.

Honeybee answers.

Hello,

My little Honeybee.

Harold!

Harold!

The door's over here.

Follow my voice.

Harold!

Melody Bee flutters towards the door,

Trying to direct Harold to you,

His favorite person in the whole world.

Harold,

Come here.

Let me put your hair up in a ponytail.

I promise it will help.

I chase after Harold,

Who has finally found his way to you and sniffs the rest of the way to find your feet and sit down between them.

His white fluff is so fluffy that it's hanging down over his eyes.

I hand Melody Bee a tiny elastic band for a ponytail that Harold wants nothing to do with.

She quietly buzzes up beside him and sneaks in a quick ponytail.

Tying up his long white fluff as quickly as she can.

There you go,

Boy.

Hello,

My little Honeybee.

I'm so happy to see you.

I know Harold is,

Too.

He's just a little frustrated today to show it.

Did you see how long his hair is?

He's really earned his nickname.

Sometimes we call him Harry,

And now he's living up to it.

We walk to the family room where Harold is sliding the top of his head against the carpet and pawing at his ponytail,

Trying to take it out.

Harold,

Just give the ponytail a chance.

Harold looks up at each of us,

Giving the best,

Saddest puppy dog eyes he can to let us know how much he dislikes the ponytail.

We try to reassure him that he looks adorable and that this is the best way to keep his fur out of his eyes.

But he won't hear any of it.

When his puppy dog eyes don't work,

He quickly returns to pawing at it endlessly until Melody Bee cannot take it any longer and frees him from his ponytail.

Here you go,

Harold.

Congratulations.

Now you can't see.

Melody Bee parted his hair down around the sides of his eyes,

And that lasted a while until he wiggled enough for his fluff to cover his eyes once again.

Unable to see,

He tried to join you on the couch but missed the couch cushions by a lot.

You try patting the couch so he can follow the sound.

Again,

Harold runs right into the couch and doesn't hold still long enough for you to pick him up.

Harold,

Follow the sound of my voice.

Over here.

No,

No,

Here.

Here.

Aw,

Come here,

Boy.

I'll lift you up so you can sit by our little Honey Bee.

That'll make you feel better.

Harold snuggles in close and lays his snout covered in fluffy tufts of fur down on your leg.

You pet his fluffier-than-usual ears and he whimpers himself to sleep for a quick nap.

We talk amongst ourselves while he sleeps.

What are we going to do about Harold?

He can't see a thing.

The ponytail works,

But he doesn't like it.

So it basically doesn't work at all.

Well,

If he doesn't like the ponytail and it's obvious he doesn't,

Then we have no choice but to give our little hairy Harold a haircut.

The words were spoken in a usual quiet tone,

But they screamed like alarm bells to Harold's ears.

He bolts up from his momentary snooze and attempts to run to one of his hiding spots.

Mr.

Honey Bee is able to catch him before he can get there.

Don't worry,

Boy.

Your first haircut will be right here in the garage.

We get up to follow Mr.

Honey Bee and a worried Harold out to his garage.

You take Harold into your arms from Mr.

Honey Bee before he walks over to his shelf and pulls out a foldable metal table.

Mr.

Honey Bee and I set it up in the middle of the garage.

The stainless steel glitters in the sunbeams that shine through the little row of windows at the top of the garage door.

To Harold,

One look at that metal table brings back a lifetime of vet memories,

And he doesn't like it one bit.

Not one bit.

He begins to wiggle uncontrollably.

Melody Bee opens the door to join us in the garage with a little bow in her hands,

Thinking it might be more comfortable than an elastic band.

Just as she opens the door to the house,

Harold wiggles out of your arms,

Leaps down to the ground,

Maneuvers away from my grasp,

And flies right by Melody Bee,

Who didn't even see it coming.

He takes off into the house,

Likely going to his tried and true hiding spot.

What was that about?

Harold thinks the table looks too much like the vet table.

He's not a fan of the vet.

I don't know why,

Though.

She's been nothing but nice and supportive to him.

Silly Harold.

So what are we going to do?

I bet he couldn't even get to his hiding spot because he can't see.

Let's go find him and see what we can talk him into.

Together,

We walk back into the house,

Through the kitchen and the family room,

Into the bathroom and over to the bathtub.

This is where Harold hides when he's the most scared.

When he's just a little scared,

He hides behind one of the big potted plants in the family room because he thinks he's invisible.

Behind the shower curtain,

He feels even more invisible.

He hears us come in before we see him.

We give him a moment hidden in his hiding spot before we slowly pull open the shower curtain and see him cowering and fearful in the bathtub.

Aw,

It's okay,

Harold.

I know it's scary to do new things.

But I promise,

You can trust me.

Haircuts don't hurt at all.

Not even a little.

Well,

They don't hurt physically.

But a bad haircut,

Oof,

Those hurt.

Mr.

Honeybee,

He doesn't know you're joking.

To be fair,

I'm not joking.

I once got a bad mustache trim,

And oh boy,

That was rough.

He doesn't mean it,

Harold.

He was listening to a radio show while trimming his mustache himself one morning.

And when he laughed at one of their jokes,

He cut his mustache sideways.

It was pretty funny.

I do not remember it that way,

My dear.

I just remember Melody Bee tilting her head sideways trying to make my mustache look straight.

It wasn't funny at all,

Mr.

Honeybee.

You usually trim so straight.

I thought I was crooked.

Anyways,

Harold,

We'll do a good job on your haircut.

Our little Honeybee is here to help us and help you.

I promise it'll go smoothly,

And you'll feel like a brand new pup after we're all done.

And you'll get a bubble bath before.

Harold loves bubble baths and being towel-dried after getting wet,

So those two things were enough to bring him on board with his first-ever haircut.

We get his bath started and check the temperature to make sure it's not too hot and not too cold,

But just right.

He splashes around in the warm bath as you squeeze bubble bath that doubles as shampoo out of the bottle and into the water.

As the bubbles fill up around him,

He plays in them happily while we scrub him clean,

With all four of us leaning over the bathtub.

Hairy Harold feels like a prince who is getting the royal treatment.

We get him squeaky clean,

Then let him play a little longer in the bubbles just to get his spirits up before the haircut begins.

You reach into the soft,

Soothing bubbles until you can feel the warm water beneath and fish your hand around for the drain plug.

When you find it,

You pull on the chain and all of the water rushes out.

We wrap Harold in a towel,

Give him a good towel-drying,

Then pick him up,

Still wrapped in the towel,

And head back out to the garage.

His nerves come back as soon as his paw pads land on the cold table.

There's a little hook we click his leash onto that will help him keep still.

That makes him even more nervous,

So your expertise is much needed.

You walk over to the front of the table,

Part Harold's fluff on either side of his face so he can see you and assure him that everything will be just fine.

You lightly rub behind his ears and give him a snout kiss to help him relax a bit more.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the coolness coming in through your nose and quiet yourself both inside and out.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and settle in as Harold's first haircut emotional support team with Melody Bee.

Mr.

Honey Bee and I get out the shears and the scissors while you and Melody Bee pet Harold and help him feel more and more relaxed doing something new.

Hey Harold,

You want a mohawk,

Right?

Mr.

Honey Bee,

No.

That is offensive to his sensibilities.

Natural curls only.

He was kidding,

Melody Bee.

Oh,

Okay.

But really,

Natural curls only.

Harold loves his curls.

One naturally curly dog haircut coming up.

Mr.

Honey Bee snips the scissors all over a little here and a little there.

Harold doesn't even notice that he's getting a haircut because you and Melody Bee are making him feel so calm relaxed and loved.

It's not until Mr.

Honey Bee passes the scissors to me to do the teeny tiny cuts to the fluff around his eyes that Harold remembers he's tethered to the table and is indeed getting his first haircut.

It's okay,

Harold.

It's okay.

Look,

Little Honey Bee,

Your most favorite person is here.

We're right here with you,

Boy.

It's just a few more cuts to get the extra long fluffy hairs out of your eyes.

Watch.

I bet we can finish this in five cuts.

With that,

Harold's first haircut is done.

He is overjoyed to be able to see again and blinks his big eyes up at us.

There's just one last step,

And this one really is Harold's favorite.

Mrs.

Honey Bee,

Are you going to do the shoooooo thing for Harold now to finish up his haircut?

The what?

The shoooooo thing.

You know,

The thing.

Oh,

Do you mean the blow dryer?

Yeah,

That.

He loves to have his ears flapped in the warm wind.

Yep.

Let's go upstairs,

Harold.

We can use my blow dryer.

Come with us,

My little Honey Bee.

I'll need another pair of hands.

We'll be right back down,

Mr.

Honey Bee.

We'll let you know when the fashion show is ready.

We'll be waiting,

My dear.

You're going to look even more handsome,

Harold.

Upstairs,

You hold Harold still as best as you can as I blow dry his fur until it's fully dried.

Harold dances in the warm air that swirls around him.

He rolls over so his belly can be blow dried and each of his paws and gives us his snout twice to blow dry extra.

When he's all done,

I go to my closet to get a bow tie I was waiting to give Harold for his birthday.

But today,

He could really use a little gift.

You attach his bow tie to his collar and he walks up to the mirrored closet doors to get a good look at himself.

He feels brand new and loves the way he looks.

He can hardly wait to run downstairs to show off his new look to Mr.

Honey Bee and Melody Bee.

So he does it.

He runs downstairs and stops at the landing where he begins to strut down each of the steps while Mr.

Honey Bee and Melody Bee fawn over his new look.

Mr.

Honey Bee pretends to be a fashion photographer and Harold poses enjoying feeling dapper in the limelight for the moment.

Harold looks adorable with his fresh new haircut and he doesn't want to let it go to waste a moment longer.

He runs over to get his leash and scratches at the door.

Dressed to the nines in his bow tie,

He wants to parade around the puppet park for all of his friends to see.

Always remember,

Mrs.

Honey Bee believes in you.

You are special and you are loved.

I can't wait to see you again.