A boy shaving

Steven is 7. He is really quiet about the things he does... my dad calls it sneaky; I don't agree, I call it.. private. This one thing he is into right now is shaving. He will kind of move off into the shadows when we are all sitting quietly watching t.v. or reading and you can hear his little feet, but barely, go up the steps and the bathroom door quietly closes. You know he's not peeing because that sounds like running feet pounding on the floor because he's put it off to the last millisecond.. but the shaving is tip-toeing through a darkened hallway with a hint of bathroom light and the slightest little muffling of the door and jamb, and the almost inaudible click of the knob.

I walked in on him once and he turned to me, the shaving cream was all over him, he was even shaving his chest.

And, oh, and we are such good parents.. Royce will say distractedly, "Where's Steven....?

I'll go, "Um, I think he's shaving..."

Royce is like"... with a razor?.."

I go, "Uh-huh."

And we keep reading...

Really, I've said to Steven to be patient that I would get him a kid's kit, but he wants the real thing... He wants to use his dad's electric razor, but he is using Nick's shaving stuff and Nicholas is usually a bear when it comes to other people and his territory... But with this, it's like he understands and he'll say real gently, "Steven I've told you like 4 times ~ please don't use my razor."

Steven says, "O.k." But don't count on it, he eventually succumbs to the lure.

One night last week he calls me, "Mommy I think you should come here." So I go to the bathroom and his little face is bleeding from various wounds and oh, it was terrible to see all those little bloody marks and he even covered them with little spots of toilet paper.

Last night Royce opens a package from Ebay and shows it to me. It is a new electric razor and I go, "Why did you get that?" And he said so he can take the blades out of his old one and give it to Steven.

So, Lea and I were in the tub washing our hair this morning and Steven comes in with his "new" razor and looks at me. I said, "Hi."

He holds up the razor, the plug swinging back and forth from his hand and said, "I need to find a place to plug this in so I can shave."