I�m thinking of making a T-shirt for AJ that reads, �WARNING: CONTENTS MAY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST! Maybe I should get one for myself too, since lately when he goes up in flames I seem to want to keep him company.

I�ve never been a particularly patient person, but I used to at least be able to keep my cool in most situations. Lately, however, it seems like AJ is able to send me into fits of rage faster than you can say �No, I don�t wanna!�

Today AJ has mostly been fun to be around. He�s very excited about our impending journey and has been hurling himself into the center of all the preparations. But the potty antics continue and have been particularly bad today, with three changes of clothes before noon � a new low for him. It wouldn�t bother me if he were just making mistakes, but he�s doing it on purpose and I just can�t figure out why. I�m hoping it will all blow over after we get back from vacation and things get back to normal. In the mean time, I think I need to figure out how to be a little more Zen about the whole thing.

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Yesterday�s hair appointment was fairly successful. My new stylist was Greek with a last name too fabulous to eclipse in anonymity: Diogenes. Diogenes the Cynic, renowned for living in a tub and searching for an honest man with a lantern, was always one of my favorite classical figures. (Here is a picture of him on my favorite bad art site.) As far as I could tell, J. bore no resemblance to her classical namesake, other than a fondness for good lighting. She was tiny with bottle-blonde hair, which suited her immensely. Her station was covered with framed photos of a boy of at varying ages � in his middle school soccer uniform, at the prom, in a graduation photo, and finally wearing a U.S. Army uniform and smiling before a flag. He was extremely handsome and looked impossibly young to be wearing such a uniform. He reminded me of Vin from Mrs. Miniver, and I could hardly stand to look. I wanted to ask J. about the photos, but she didn�t look old enough to have a son in the army, and I didn�t want to make a mistake of that nature, so I kept my mouth shut and so did she. I never mind the lack of small talk, actually.

The haircut is okay. It�s exactly what I asked for and it�s well executed but it isn�t exactly what I wanted. My old stylist would have known what to do without proper details from me. The thing about hair is that when the stylist sits you down and asks you what you want, rarely do you really want to respond with technical details. What you really want to say is, �I want a haircut that will make me look more beautiful and glamorous than I really am. I want a haircut to make me look 10 years younger and 20 pounds thinner. I want a haircut that will change my life for the better.� But all I could really say was �bob, a little shorter in the back, just below the earlobes.� It�s the same haircut I�ve been wearing on and off for my whole life. When I was younger, it made me look like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Now it just makes me look like a scary Amazon.

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We leave early tomorrow morning for ten days. So I guess I should declare a sort of hiatus, although I�ll try to update if I can. If not, see you in September!

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