Our Little Pumpkin Head

Quick warning: this post may be a bit boring for those of you not interested in genetics or how genes are expressed.  Also, I don't understand it much myself so I may have over simplified it a bit or just plain gotten it wrong.

Oliver has red hair!

What!  How did that happen?  Since I always imagined having little brown-headed babies and Blob always imagined having little blond monsters running around, we were both surprised to learn that our baby is a ginger.   Because I can't help myself, I looked into how it works and what the chances of having a ginger muppet were.

I have brown hair.  Blob has blondish hair.  Before looking into this, I assumed that I was solely responsible Ollie's orangey-red locks since my mom has firey red hair and several other member of her family do as well.

But no!

Red hair is a recessive trait and needs two copies of the recessive allele to be expressed.  So in fact, both Blob and I had to contribute a recessive red allele.  We're both carriers!

The Red Hair Gene: MC1R (RR, Rr, rr)
The gene that determines whether or not someone has red hair is called MC1R (I have no idea why!). Let's call  the alleles "R" if it is dominant and "r" if it is recessive.  When it works, this gene creates a protein that converts hair color pigment from red to something else.

If a person does not have red hair, then at least one copy of the MC1R allele is on/working (R).  That means at least one or both parents contribute a working copy  (either Rr or RR genotype).  With one or more working alleles for the gene, a person can convert hair color pigment from red (pheomelanin) to not red (eumelanin).

If  each parent contributes a recessive allele (rr), the MC1R gene does not work.  Pigment stays red (pheomelanin).  So, all redheads have the genotype rr.

Pigment Bunches (pppppppp to PPPPPPPP)
Each person has 8 alleles that determine how dark his/her hair is.  We get 4 alleles that code for pigment from each parent.  The spectrum runs from the lightest light blonde hair, which is pppppppp, to really dark or black hair, which is PPPPPPPP.

Our Genotypes
My genotype for MC1R is Rr.  Since my mom is a readhead, she could only contribute a (r) recessive allele to me.  Since my hair is not red, I also have a working copy (R).  So, my genotype has to be Rr.  It's easy to tell with me because my dark hair is accompanied by red highlights and freckles.  I have dark-ish brown hair, so my pigment making bunch probably is either PPPPPppp or PPPPPPpp.

Blob's genotype for MC1R is Rr also.  We know his since our baby-thing has red hair (rr), but Blob doesn't have red hair.  That means that Blob has to be a carrier of the recessive trait (Rr) and passed his (r) recessive allele on to the baby thing.  It's a bit harder to tell that Blob is a carrier, but after doing a bit of reading, we learned that we should have been able to tell since his beard grows in with red hair.  Neither of Blob's parents have red hair either, so one of his parents also has to be a carrier of the recessive trait (Rr).  We're guessing it's probably his dad.  Rob has blondish hair, so his pigment making bunch probably is either PPpppppp or PPPppppp.

Oliver's MC1R genotype is rr.  We don't yet know what his pigment bunch looks like.  If he's a strawberry blonde, he'll have less pigment (e.g., PPpppppp).  If he has bright orangey hair, he'll have a split (e.g., PPPPpppp).  If he has auburn hair, it will be more like (PPPPPPpp).


Phew.  That's all the boring for a bit.  Here are some cute baby pictures.

And here is where most of my info came from:
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=189

Rock On

Working it out.  His new favorite toy.

Eat It

The time has come.  Our little one eats.

To introduce solid foods, we're trying "Baby-Led Weaning".  It's not terribly common (at least I don't know anyone else trying this way), but we love it.  In this situation, weaning means introducing solid foods, not cessation of breastfeeding.  It aligns with our overall parenting approach (in that it's both lazy and uncontrived).  The basics for starting are:

• Prepare food for your own meals and use some version of that to feed your baby (you may need to chop differently or cook a little more or less initially).
• Give your kid 2 inch long pieces of food (one inch to hold and one inch to eat) while they are learning.
• Let them figure it out.  They get to figure out how best to hold the food.  They also get to perfect their aim.  Once they get it into their mouth, it may involve activating their gag reflex, which is not the same as choking.  In infants, the gag reflex is further forward in their mouth, just for this reason, to protect them from choking when they learn to explore foods.
• Food is fun!  Since he still gets most of his nutrition from breast milk, he doesn't need to eat any particular amount.  In fact, some days if we're really busy we just don't get around to it and he's fine.

It's been going really well for us.  Our little pumpkin head loves it.  Here are a few things we like about it:

• He feeds himself.  This means we can all eat at the same time.  
• He feeds himself.  Definitely worth mentioning again.   His dexterity has remarkably improved after just three weeks of introducing solid foods. He uses his hands to explore the food, turn it around and aim it at his mouth.  He has so much fun eating.  
• He feeds himself.  Yes, again.  Another benefit is that he regulates which foods and how much food he puts in his mouth.  I think this will help with portion control.
• He eats almost anything we offer him.  He'll try it, move it around in his mouth, see what he thinks.  It's a fun way for him to discover all sorts of flavors and textures.
• Mouthy manipulations.  Soon, about two days after he started solid foods, he started saying many, many more consonant sounds.  The timing may have been a total coincidence, though I think having greater control over his mouth and how he uses it may have helped.
• Chewing.  Yes, at 6 and half months, he had only been "eating" for three weeks, had no teeth, but already started to chew his food!  I'm kind of amazed.
• It's convenient.  When we go out to dinner or eat at friends houses, I don't need to worry about packing food for him, I can just give him something from my plate.
• The magnificent gag reflex.   I actually think it's fascinating to observe your child's built in features working well and the way they ought to.  It's interesting.  He infrequently gags, but when he does, the food just comes back up quickly.  He's not at all bothered by this and will pick the same piece of food right back up and try again.  For him, it's just part of the learning process.  Ooops, I put that one in too far.  Ooops, too many at a time.  

Here he is in action!

Here's another video where you can see him loving the ever so unhelpful bananas.  He gags a bit in this clip, at about 37 seconds.  You can see how little he's affected by it.

As much as we love this, it's not for everybody.  

• Gagging.  If you're a nervous person, the gagging might worry you.  We're pretty laid back, so have accepted that this is just part of the natural learning process.  And Ollie isn't damaged by it at all, not even a little.  If it bothers you or your kid, then it's not for you.
• Constipation.  We accidentally constipated him.  Whoops.  That was a mommy fail.  Somehow, I've lived my entire life without knowing that bananas stop you up.  Since they were easy, I gave him bananas every day in the beginning.  We resolved this with a bit of (diluted) prune juice and also give him a bit of  dried plums with every meal.  He loves them and has no problem navigating the skins.
• Mess.  At first, there's a lot of it, especially with avocados.  It's so much fun for him and I have the time, so I don't mind cleaning up with him afterwards. 
• Time.  If you don't have time, it's quicker to just feed your kid yourself..
• Allergies.  If you're introducing one food at a time and are worried about allergies, this may not be the best approach for you.  You can still make it work, but some of the convenience factors disappear. 

Unkle Mandy

This post is loooong overdue.  Back in March, my fabulous little sister, Amanda, came to visit from the Bay Area.  Ollie was a big fan!  Here are some of my favorites from her visit:

Unkle Mandy is so funny!

Pants on my head!

Ollie liked Unkle Mandy so much that he decided to dress like her for the day.

Our older sister, Elissa, and her son, Alex, came to visit for the weekend while Amanda was in town.  Amanda was initially concerned that Alex might not like her, but he was also a BIG fan.

Unkle Mandy.  Good at nephews.

Line up in increasing order of height.  Midgets on the left!

Three Zadrozny Shes

Now, the only aunt/uncle left to meet is Auntie Joe Z.

6 Months! Wait, Really?

Apparently, this baby-thing's been around for 6 months. He's so easy, hilarious, and generally amazing that it's hard to believe.


For his half-birthday, he went on a swing:

Faster! Faster!

And for a hike in Umstead Park. Obviously, he found this very enthralling, even though normally, a few thousand trees would be just what he wanted for his half-birthday.

Wake me up when we get there. Wherever 'there' is.

And for an encore, he got dressed in the dark.

If I chew on this ZebraDonkey, maybe they won't notice my outfit.

As I write this, he's smiling in his sleep. That's just how happy this little man is.

Egg-cellent

Egg-citing times for Easter, hunting for eggs with the neighborhood kids and then again with cousin Isla.

Hat whimsy!  With Poppy and Gordon!

Hey Isla, we're on a lake!  We'll have so much fun here!

Finally caught one of those pesky eggs.

Also, just as exciting, a weed.

Mmmmm

Rockstar

We've got lots of material!  Here's a series of pictures that I love, atop Stone Mountain a couple weeks ago.   He's definitely our kid.  He LOVES to be outside!

Seriously?

Please.  Please, don't make me go.

Whoa.

Natural high

I'm coming for YOU!