Can He Take the Hint(s)?

Here is my child, "Kylee"...er...uh...I mean, "Kyle."

 And this is how he has chosen to wear his hair lately.

 Much to my mom's and some adults from church disgust & disturbance.....

I don't say anything, unless I'm asked.  I just let his experiences tell him all he needs to know/learn.

*Although, I do have to slip in a joke when the situation presents itself; like when I got an email from the Jr. High saying that they were going to have a bunch of different themed days at school that week.   "Crazy Hair Day" was one of them.  I asked him if we was going to participate, and then followed it up real quickly with the comment, "Oh, you don't need to do anything.  You've got 'crazy hair' EVERY day!"  ;) 

So, these experiences started two months ago we were down in St. George for Thanksgiving and we (Matt, Ryan, Kyle, me, my brother & sister, their spouses, and my niece & nephews) all went to the St. George Temple together to do Baptisms for the Dead. 

When it was Kyle's turn, Matt was in the font with him, and he looked at the monitor to start reading the name of the person he was going to baptize Kyle for and he noticed that the Officiator had put a pink card of names up.  (Female names are printed on the pink cards, male names on blue cards).  Matt told him he needed to change the card.  The Officiator looked up from his desk and down into the font, and looked completely confused - and hesitant to follow Matt's suggestion.  He did doubtfully trade out the pink card for a blue card so all was right, although he couldn't figure out why Matt had made that request. 

Later, I took Kyle aside and said, "Just so you're aware......." and proceeded to explain to him that he was mistaken for a girl that day in the temple -- because of his hair!  And it was something to consider.
Well, he got pretty testy about that and argued, "Just because some 189 yr. old guy, who is CONFUSED and has BAD VISION, makes a mistake because he's OLD, you think I should cut my hair?!?"

Nope, I replied.  It's just something to consider.

*And just for the record, the temple worker was not even half that old!


THEN, fast forward just three weeks later......our youth group from church went to the Bountiful Temple together to do Baptisms again.  I was there, accompanying the group, including Ryan & Kyle, as an adult leader and was watching everyone get baptized. 

The names of the people they were doing the work for was from a foreign country, with some of the last names spelled with a t-s-z-j all in a row, and very hard to pronounce.  On the monitor at this temple, I could not tell the color of the card - they looked white to me.  So, it became Kyle's turn, and I noticed the first person he got baptized for was a "Maria" with one of those really tricky last names. 

I even leaned over to the girl next to me and said, "I guess in that foreign country, 'Maria' is a boy's name!"  And we smiled together. 

THEN the next name came on the monitor and it was "Julianna."  I started to think, What are the chances that this [girl name in America], too, is a boy name in their country?!? 

So, then I looked up and over the monitor and onto the desktop and saw that it was, indeed, a pink card that was being used!  At that point, I interjected out loud, "Are these girls' names?"

Again, all the workers looked back & forth between Kyle and the pink card.  And because he had actually been baptized [for a girl] already, his hair was wet and looked even longer in the back at that moment!
Some more baffled looks and mumblings about what was going on.  His brother, Ryan, was more than happy to blurt out, "He's a guy!"
And Kyle moaned, "Not again.  That's TWICE!"

They fixed it all, switched out the pink card for a blue card, and the rest of us ward members in there had to try SO HARD to control our giggles!  ;)

After that experience, the universal question people were asking was, "Is he getting the hint, yet?"

Well, he FINALLY did - after another month went by!

He claims it did not have anything to do with his "mistaken identity" but rather because it was too "high maintenance" of a hairstyle.  And it was.  He took a l-o-o-ong time to get it to flip up just so in the back, and to gel up the front.  I would be waiting for him to go somewhere, in the car out in the driveway, as he was in the bathroom doing his hair still! 

Tonight, he just asked me to cut it off!

{He's put that "precious memento" in a baggie and saved it!}

I've had tons of people come up to me and tell me HOW GOOD his hair looks, now!  Yep!

But, he says he's had mixed reactions at school. 
The boys are saying, "Dude, WHY did you cut off your mullet?" 
And the girls are telling him they like it!  ;) 
So, then he's having second thoughts.

To which I asked him, Who would you rather want to think you look good; the boys or the girls?

Oh....yeah....that makes sense, he realized, as my comment put things into perspective for him.