A Bald Son And My Crazy Latin Wife
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September 28th, 2006
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All Latin women are crazy. I just wanted to let you know in case you missed that fact or plan to marry a Latin some day. I mean crazy in a nice way though. At least most of the time. I woke up at 6.30 am this morning with Annika sleeping on my chest. She'd been there for the past couple of hours since elevating her head helps her sleep better because of a stuffed nose. I looked down on her her, got a whiff of that great baby smell, and kissed her on the head. Then I started laughing. As I kissed Annika I touched the little hair she's got and was immediately reminded of my crazy Latin wife Two and half years ago, when Daniel was the same age as Annika, I walked into our apartment one day after work and saw my son in the living room. At first i didn't notice anything different. Then, as I moved closer to give him a kiss I noticed something strange. All his hair was gone. He had hair in the morning but it had mysteriously disappeared during the day. My son was bald. Meet my crazy Latin wife.
Daniel did have hair when he was born. He had that black hair which is typical for Latin babies. Hair was the least of our problems in the very beginning but we did notice that he had thinner and less hair than most of his friends. We talked about it but knew that some babies can be almost bald up to one year of age. I couldn't have cared less about hair but the Latins apparently have their own little trick for making hair grow. Perhaps they are on to something since I see very few bald or thin haired Latin's. Most of them have a full head of hair as they grow old.
I looked at my son again. My bald son. Then I looked at my wife. And then at my MIL. What the hell had happened? And why? My wife saw the puzzled look in my eyes and realized I was staring at my bald son. I was not angry, just confused. He did have hair when I left for work in the morning and now it was gone. I can't remember what I actually said to my wife but I remember the answer, "Oh, we forgot to tell you?". You sure as hell forgot to tell me about my bald son. They explained excitedly that it was a common thing among Latin's to shave the head of their child at an early age to make the hair grow better. I've heard this as well but I've never heard of anyone shaving their child. At age 5 weeks. But perhaps I'm just clueless. The explanation I got sounded very reasonable and I wasn't angry at all. Still just a bit surprised over what my wife had come up with. After ten years of marriage and 17 years together I shouldn't have been surprised. MIL and wife saw I was skeptical towards the shaving strategy and promised me the world. Our son would have lots of hair in a week or two. In two months his head would be filled with thick Latin hair. Sounded good to me.
A week passed by. Then two weeks. Still no hair. No sign of hair whatsoever. A month passed and still no hair. MIL and wife explained nervously that they had never experienced such a thing and promised me the world again. Two months passed. Still no hair. I've never been concerned with hair but it would be nice if my son had at least some hair. I could already picture how my bald son would be teased at school, never find a girlfriend, and be an alcoholic by age 20. Alright, those were not my thoughts but I was wondering if there would ever be hair. MIL and wife were now very concerned. They had shaved Daniel's head to make his hair nice and thick in a short time. And now there was nothing. Perhaps worse was that they had made me crazy promises.
After just over three months we spotted some new hair on "Baldy" , as I was now calling him. It you leaned forward, put your head an inch from Daniel's head, and had very good eyes, you could see some hair. MIL and wife were relieved but avoided me as soon as I teased them about their promises. So how did the hair turn out in the end? Pretty good I think. But I don't think the shaving make a difference. His hair is no longer black, it's more of a light brown color. He's got plenty of hair but it's not thick Latin hair. But that makes no difference to me.
If you are dating a nice Latin girl you should keep some things in mind. You might die of a heart attack because of all the crazy and unexpected things they come up with. I've got tons of stories that are priceless and hilarious. Well, they are funny now but not all them were funny when they happened. Chances are good you will survive and you're then likely to have a great life with some of the finest people on earth. Just be careful when they are near a car and don't be surprised if you wife one day comes home and tells you she made a date with two swingers. By accident. Don't ask.
Have a nice, crazy weekend!
Hmm… this way you could wake up bald yourself some day! :-) I’m sure I’d be worried, if I saw our baby bald (he has long, dark hair). I’d probably think it was witchcraft or my wife tried to wake him up a wee bit too much while feeding :-D
Latin people are not the only ones that does the shave head ritual. My MIL and husband, who are Chinese, also did this to my son, Erik, at 5 1/2 weeks old! I was very very upset during the process and actually cried since he was born with such thick hair already **probably from the postpartum hormones too** Sigh! I’m just so glad that Erik’s hair came back in about 3 months…that waiting period was long!! I hope Annika won’t have to go through that! Have a good weekend!
I have seen this practice among Filipinos also. It appears that the hair is “growing back thicker” because hair in the middle is thicker than the ends. So it’s sort of just an illusion.
I’ve heard people say they get their hair trimmed so it looks thicker for the same reasons.
Hi! I was blog-hopping and loved your posts on parental leave in Sweden, plus my daughter’s name is Annika too. I had to laugh out loud at this entry. It must have been a big shock to come home to a bald baby!
As per Filipino tradition I was shaved at a year old and so was one of my brothers, J. The other brother L, and my sister G weren’t shaved. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence but J and I both have thick heads of hair now, while L and G both have thin wispy strands.