Sunday, January 20, 2008

From Curly Top to Cue Ball

This weekend provided a great spot of happiness after the toil of last week's events. Some of our best friends celebrated their youngest son's Mundan ceremony and Caleb and I got to participate a bit.

but first, a little backstory...

Amy and I had the luck to be pregnant together at exactly the same time... twice. Both our sons are about 19 months apart. Having someone else experiencing what I was experiencing was invaluable to me. All the anxiety about having a second while the first was still a baby, balancing work and child care and marriage, making time for oursleves - it was SUCH a relief to share the load with a person who knew what it was like.

Sandy is from a traditional Hindu family, and Amy hails from the hallelujah-Baptist-country, like me. Neither are actively practicing their native religions/denominations, but tradition is still important to both. So when it came time for Connery to make the transition from baby to little boy, Amy & Sandy had already been through Kieran's Mundan... but in India, on the banks of the same river Sandy's father had his ceremony.
Kieran's Mundan in India:


flash forward to this past weekend
The Hindu temple was out in the middle of nowhere. Their crowd of friends was large and Sandy's mom had flown in a few days before to help prepare. She brought with her Indian saris and bangles and gorgeous jewelry; the day before they shopped for the ceremony and altar supplies. Finn and Eli even got to wear kurta pajamas! Caleb was able to help with the actual hair cutting part of the ceremony, and I got to wear a sari and mendhi.



Connery was such a happy, laughing boy throughout the entire ceremony - he never even cried. Those Shirley Temple curls are gone, but the laughing baby still remains - and it will take more than a reluctant pair of clippers to make him grow up.


6 comments:

pb&j in a bowl said...

That is so interesting. Definitely something I wish I knew more about. Loved the intricacy of the mendhi

Anonymous said...

Dr. M's office called me this afternoon. Apparently you have contacts there that were ordered in October.

Oh, the joys of the same name; I bet you'll be happy when we move away! LOL

Amy said...

Thank you for that beautiful journal! You are so amazing! And so is that picture of the curls! I still can't quite get used to seeing his sweet bald head. I turn the corner and try to visualize what he's going to look like when he comes into view. Somehow he's always even cuter than before. We are thankful to have you guys in our lives. It meant so much for you to be there and share in Connery's milestone. One of many we'll share with "our boys."

Lisa said...

That sounds like such a cool experience!

Unknown said...

What an interesting post. Found you though weekend bloghopping, and I'm glad I did. Geat stuff here!!

Cheers,

"Makeshift Sinatra"
from the weekend bloghoppers

Lee Anne Bryant said...

Cool - what an experience! You're friend always looks so beautiful in her saris. And hey, I would love to see some more sari pictures of you!

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