Little boys and braids

Here in T-land, the tradition is not to cut a boy's hair until his 3rd birthday. Therefore, it is not at all uncommon to see little boys running around with braids or ponytails in their hair. (We haven't done enough research on the reason for this tradition yet, so we don't know everything that's behind this practice. Yet, because of what we were once told, we think it has something to do with them trying to trick the evil spirits. In earlier times, the people were afraid that the evil spirits would see the baby boy and try to kill it, as boys would one day receive the family’s wealth. Therefore, the families would do their best to disguise the boy... letting his hair grow, and even at times, dressing him like a girl. They would do this until his 3rd birthday. Today, those in the city continue this practice. Yet most of them say they do it because it is tradition, just something that was always done.)

Yes, this little child is a boy, about Nina's age. Despite his braided hair, I knew right away that he was a boy... there was nothing what-so-ever feminine about him! Nina enjoyed playing with him for a while. Can you see why our children 'stick-out' here so? :)



Some have wondered if we will follow this tradition and not cut Micah's hair until his 3rd birthday. But, we have decided that he will get a haircut sooner than that! We do not want to be showing our approval to the reason behind this practice (especially since we aren’t exactly sure of all that it means to the people). Besides, Micah doesn't need any more 'girly stuff' in his life! Having two older sisters, he already gets plenty of pink! :) We're just glad he's too young to realize that we feed him from a pink princess bowl, and that his little head is washed with pink shampoo! :) All pink aside, our little Micah is definitely all boy!