Luke is terrified of men with long hair! This phobia first surfaced when we were back in Kansas. Grandpa Jim has this funny Billy Bob hat with a wig attached that he likes to wear when he's in a crazy mood. As soon as Luke spotted Grandpa in that hat, he didn't want to get too close ... and then he even started to back away! We all thought it was rather funny at the time, but little did we know this was actually going to be a much bigger deal for Luke down the road.
Since then, we have noticed that Luke freaks out any time he sees a man with longer hair. He freezes in his tracks and won't budge an inch. And if you can even imagine the look he shoots the offender ... as if to say, "I'm not sure about you and that long hair! Just keep your distance."
Another related incident happened at the mall play area one day. Luke was having a wonderful time running around and climbing and jumping and expending a lot of energy, until he spotted a man with longer curly hair sitting on the side of the play area. Luke completely froze for about a minute ... long enough for other parents to point and comment and notice the look of sheer terror on his face ... and long enough for the poor man to realize that something he was doing (little did he know it was just his hair) was the cause of this poor child's fear. Luke just stared at him until rescued by good ol' Dad.
Tonight we went to a restaurant called Pita Jungle. It's sort of an artsy, ecletic crowd ... and yes, our server had long hair and was wearing a knitted hat. We were sitting inside, and immediately, we noticed that Luke was a little antsy about things. When we figured out why and saw that he kept a close watch on this waiter, we decided to move to an outside table where the waiter wouldn't be in such clear view. We couldn't help but chuckle about Luke's little quirk.
Poor Luke ... and all because of Grandpa's Billy Bob hat!
