The Ginger Gene

Until Madeline was born, I was the lone redhead in my family.  I don't belong to the milk man, so obviously there has to be red hair in the gene pool in various places, (my father's mother for example) but I'm the only one I've ever seen.  

The fact that Madeline inherited my ginger gene makes me feel like there's an extra bond between us.  It's like sitting next to a stranger in the cafeteria only to find that you're not the only weirdo in the world who eats peanut butter and mustard sandwiches.  Kindred spirits!

 It makes me happy and proud when strangers comment on the fact that she takes after her mother.

Yet, sadly for little Madeline, inheriting her Mumma's head of hair comes with some challenges.

First off, although my daughter is one-and-a-half years old, she still doesn't have much hair.  What she does have is a beautiful shade of red, but it's scraggly long in some places while still sparse in others.

It used to look like this:

Then for a long time it looked like this:

Pretty much every time we went out someone would call her a boy...even when she was dressed head to toe in pink.

Now, it's finally long enough to tease some itty-bitty ponytails out of it:
(Even with the ponytails, people still call her a boy because they are morons.)

 When we take the ponytails out, her hair stays like this until we wash it:

 I love it!

Although Madeline's hair has finally started filling in, I'm not holding my breath for a full head of hair any time soon.  When I was a baby, my hair looked like this:

Except, I'm not a baby in this picture.  I'm three.

Madeline probably has at least two more years of a her boyish locks until we need to worry about ribbons and bows.

Then somewhere around age eleven or twelve, her baby-thin hair will morph into the giant red triangle that I'm still trying to tame today.

A boy at recess once told me I looked like Bozo the Clown.  Which, I did...Ouch.  When I was in my mid twenties, another boy once told me I have hair like a burlap sac.  Which I do...ouch.

Crazy hair?  We gots it!

P.S. Eric has a pretty mean cowlick in his crazy hair, so Madeline's got that going for her as well.

Linking up with Toddle Along Tuesday this week at Growing Up Geeky.