Melody will someday have trouble with race relations

Melody is not white. She is yellow. Actually, to hear it from her, she is Lello.

Her hands were covered in blue ink. She washes them, then comes to show me, "Look, mommy! My Lello hands are Lello again!"

Her hair is not blonde, it is Lello. One day, she gets out of the bathtub, looks into the mirror, and breaks down in sobs. "Mommy, why isn't my Lello hair Lello anymore? Where did my Lello go?"

Now, I can answer a lot of questions. For instance, when I get asked "Mommy, why is it dark?"
I can succinctly answer "Because the Earth rotates as it revolves around the sun and requires 24 hours for each rotation. The part of the Earth that we happen to be on happens to be pointing away from the sun right now." If I am asked "Mommy, why is it hot?" I know to blame it on the fact that the earth is at a slight tilt on its rotational axis, which allows for seasons. Since our hemisphere is currently tilted towards the sun, we are experiencing summer.

See? I am prepared for most things. But I had no idea how to tell her where her Lello went and the reassurance that it would return once the hair dried was NOT going over well.

Who can come to the rescue? Who is better at minutae and useless trivia than even Mommy? That's right kids--Oma, who is just a phone call away.


Melody: Oma, where did my Lello go?
Oma: Things change color when they get wet. What color is your shirt?
M: Pink.
O: Get it wet. What color is it now?
M: Pink.
O: But is it darker pink?
M: Yes.
O: See, your hair got darker when it got wet, too.

Whew.


Now this all occurred over a year ago now. But she still thinks that she is Lello. And some day, some punk kid is going to come along and ruin it for her, and teach her all about how stupid people can be and that makes me sad. Still, I hope that some day she will be filling out college applications and check the box for Other so that she can write in Lello.