Ever since David has had even a little bit of hair he’s twirled it with his finger.

He does it when he’s tired, when he’s distracted, when he’s unsure, when he’s dealing with a difficult co-worker. We’ve seen him do it in his sleep.

I took this photo over a year ago, before his first haircut.

Until recently, it’s been a sweet, innocuous habit.

Until recently.

Because recently he started twirling dread locks into his hair. At first they were small and I’d just snip them with scissors. Calling them dreadlocks was an exaggeration; they were little tangles.

Then this monster showed up.

Can you see it?

Here’s a closer look.

And I have no idea what to do.

I bought detangling shampoo. The thing smells better, but it’s the same tangled mess. I tried ignoring it. That worked as well as the detangling shampoo.

I’ve tried to work it out with my fingers, but David kicks and screams and the dreadlock stands straight up and shakes its head saying, “Hey, lady. You think you’re first mom to tangle with dreadlocks? You’ve got to do better than that.”

My last option is to cut it out. I’m hesitant because there’s actually a lot of hair in that mess — and seems too close to his head. David doesn’t have a lot of hair, so cutting it might be obvious.

Moms with girls who have long, silky curls, I have no idea how you do it. David only has about two inches of hair, and this is only ONE tangle. And we’ve both shed tears trying to deal with it.

I’m telling you, there are a lot of perks to having bald children. Sure, you have to sunscreen their heads and people think your little girl is a boy. But you can just wipe off their heads clean after a messy meal and you almost never have to give them haircuts.

So this? I didn’t see this coming. I thought I had at least 11 years before I had to deal with dreads.

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