Redhead?

A day or so after the birth of our second grandchild, Simon Anthony Hovel (b 2 Apr 2025), a doctor commented to his parents, my eldest son and his wife, that it looks like there may be a redhead in the family. Our daughter-in-law replied that it could be as his grandma is a redhead. That grandma, my wife, would be very happy to have a another redhead in the family. I don't think, however, she would put money on the child having red hair, even if he may at this early stage of life.

Redheads are rare, only about 4 to 5% of the population world wide, and the US tracks that amount with about 4% of our population as redheads. The thing is in my wife's family the redhead gene seems to skip a generation. Our children both have brown hair. None of her sister's children have red hair. Her sister does not have red hair, but her brother did, meaning two of the three children had red hair. Her red hair is darker in color, while her brother's was lighter. 

Simon Anthony Hovel

After I said goodbye to Simon Anthony on Tuesday, April 15, I stood a few feet from him, and saw what looked like red hair on his head. An earlier photo seem to show his red hair too, but being a skeptic, taking after my name sake, I wondered if it was the lighting for the picture. Of course, being a newborn, it could be that the pink color skin on his head causes the hair to look red. Only time will tell if the red hair will hold or not. Our oldest son was a blond for a year or two, and then turned brown.

Beyond the red hair, it is amazing how fast Simon changed and developed during our four day visit. His sleep at night started to increase, he was staying awake longer, his weight was up 15 ounces from his known low a few days after birth. He was moving his head quite a bit, and he may have been starting to lose what my wife calls the baby scrunch. That scrunch with the legs up to a fetal like position, which I guess is due to having been scrunched in the womb and the muscle needing to remove the memory of that position. Being in Minneapolis, we stayed at their house, so we saw and interacted with Simon a great deal. Even though his vision is only about 8" to 12" he seemed to want to make eye contact. Eye color takes 6 to 12 months. Adding to an already rare combination, blue eyed redheads are the rarest eye-hair color combination. It is said that the odds of a person having both of those recessive traits is around 0.17%. My wife refers to her eyes as blue-green, but perhaps mainly green. 

Being held by Grandma Hovel

Today, he is three weeks of age and has now made the move to cloth diapers. While infants show the fragility of life, they also show perseverance and resilience. While it seems that they mainly sleep, eat and poop, at the same time they are starting to take in their environment, and such intake will increase as they move on in life. 

Times have changed how we live. Simon's eighth great grandfather, Simon Havel, born about 1682 in rural Bohemia. There are marked differences between the eras in which they were born and how Simon A will live compared to his distant relation lived. This Simon will grow up in an era of artificial intelligence and vast use of computing power. As common today, he has a house with wi-fi and only cell phones with central heat and air conditioning. In the 17th century the house in which my 6th great grandfather (Simon's 8th) would have had an fireplace with a hearth for heat, and perhaps candles for light. Simon 1682 had a basic, rudimentary life in a village of about 16 homes. Simon Havel weaved linen, learning the trade from his father, before taking over his father's farm. I don't know what Simon 2025 will do, but with artificial intelligence, it is more difficult to predict what a job market will be in another twenty years. For Simon 1682 life was pretty much laid out, he farmed and had weaving as a side job. Yet, basic human values such as love, were and are important in the development of a child, and the world. That is a similarity between a Simon Havel1682 and Simon Hovel 2025. Several generations and massive change in life style separate them, but the core of human values remains the same. 

Simon 2025 may not have red hair, and it is still too early to tell if he will exhibit the restless energy of his grandmother, but, I do know that his life will be much different from the era in which I grew up. Technology is fast changing the world, at a seemingly greater pace than ever before. Simon will change and adapt to an ever changing world, and I look forward to seeing him grow and develop. In the meantime, my wife is still keeping her fingers crossed that he will have red hair.