New Rule

The next time that someone asks me where Henry got his blond hair from I am going to ask them where they got their halitosis from. {okay.....not really, but a girl can dream}


We spent Saturday afternoon with my Mom's side of the extended family. Henry got quite a bit of attention which surprised me a little since he isn't a baby anymore, I figured people would be over it once he started walking and talking. He didn't take well to all the stares, funny faces and people squatting down to his level talking in baby talk with their arms outstretched. He would only make it a few steps before he would stop, look around, yell for Papa and start crying.

My "favorite" moment of the day *note sarcasm* was when my Aunt P asked me the classic questions "Where did he get that blond hair from?" My Aunt P is my mothers sister. My Aunt P is blond. My Aunt P's daughter is also blond, as is her son (so Aunt P's grandson). I thought of commenting on this and on our (meaning Aunt P's and Laura's) relatedness and giving a remedial lecture on DNA, sperm, eggs and what happens when it all comes together....but my canned response is what came out of my mouth..."Wade has blond hair in his family." It is what I always say because I know what they are actually asking. They want to know how a baby with a brown papa could have blond hair. They do not considered that half of what Wade carries in his genes is from his Papa. They also do not consider, or maybe they do not remember, that my blond hair when I was Henry's age or my older sister had blond hair that stuck around until she was in grade school. And they don't consider the connotations that come with that comment, no matter how innocent the intention.

By the end of the day I was over it. I had heard it so many times. When I heard someone ask "Where did he get that blond hair from?" I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away. One person picked up on my annoyance and said "You get that a lot huh?" "Yeah," I said. "Where did he get that blond hair from? Look at his blue eyes. Where did he get the curly hair from? Wow he is so light skinned. All of it...over and over again. And truth be told I am sick of feeling the need to defend how my child looks. He is Henry. He is a mix of his Mama and Papa and if you cannot look beyond his hair and skin to see the parts of his appearance that he shares with his Papa then I don't really care. I just ask that you keep it to yourself."

Here is an interesting observation- The side of our family that is brown skinned and dark haired have never once made a comment about Henry's hair or skin color. What does that mean I wonder?