little red heads unite

My sister-in-law turned me onto the awesome little RED HEADS across America website via coolmompicks. As soon as I click in, I was hooked and very much related to her story of having a ginger haired son. I ordered the book yesterday and on a whim, I sent the author/creator an email. To my surprise, she wrote back and asked me to share my feedback. How fab is that?! Once in a while you do encounter great people, unlike the woman who bulldozed her way over-sized car in front of me and then slammed on her brakes this morning.

When I pregnant with Wonder Boy, we knew very little about this human growing inside my tummy aside from he was a boy. We speculated what he would look like and assumed he would have dark hair because Daddy's hair is so dark. As a small child, I was anointed "Little Irish" from my great grandfather because of my copper colored locks. My father having strawberry blond/Auburn hair himself (and his father as well) it was always assumed my hair color was passed down from him. However, having not paid much attention to the biology of genes from high school lab, we just thought dark hair was dominate and therefor our children would have dark hair. Then Wonder Boy was born, a week late, with a fluorescent glow crowning his round head the likes we'd never expected.

In his seven years of life we've grown accustom to his orange top and his porcelain skin, but it is not unusual to be out in public and be asked about his coloring or told stories of great grandfathers or sisters or mothers or second cousins once removed and their red hair. We've learned to politely listen and carry on. If I had a dollar every time I was asked "where did he get that red hair?", I would be a rich woman today. I'm not even kidding. Since we just really didn't know how or why Wonder Boy's hair was so red, we started making up little antidotes to tell people when faced with the ever present question. It is true I craved and ate baby carrots by the bag fulls when pregnant with our son. So we fed Wonder Boy the line "my mom ate a lot of carrots" when grandmotherly types and retail associates asked him about his hair color. It is amazing how many awkward situations you can avoid with a laugh. Because, truthfully, those strangers don't really care exactly where Wonder Boy's hair color came from they just want to make note of it.

Then I read the red hair facts on Nicole's website and how red hair is a recessive trait meaning it has to come from both the mother and the father. We knew J's aunt has ginger coloring plus my father, grandfather and myself made for a cocktail that is Wonder Boy. There are many names for those with red hair. Copper top, ginger, carrot top, red, etc. We suffice to call our red head, El Fuego.

Side Note: For those who know me and are wondering...I do love the blond foils!!