On His Baldness (with apologies to Milton)

Noah had hair when he was born, and for the next almost 3 years. It was a beautiful silky blonde. Then one day I noticed that he was shedding a lot of hairs. At first I was worried about a thyroid problem, but it turned out to be alopecia, a condition (more common with Down syndrome) where it's like you are allergic to your own hair. Over the next couple of months his hair got thinner and thinner and finally all fell out. His eyebrows soon followed. Of course we saw a specialist, but the creams and ointments he prescribed didn't do any good, and the next step was shots into Noah's head. No thanks! Last summer Noah's eyelashes started falling out, which I have to admit was difficult for me, not just because they'd been so long and beautiful, but because they help protect the eyes. Anyway, Noah is pretty blase about his hair loss - - if you ask him what color his hair is he'll just say it's all gone. He's such a cute kid anyway, but his appearance does sometimes provoke stares and comments. Several people (including complete strangers) have asked why we shave his head. I'm tempted to reply that we shave his eyebrows and pluck his eyelashes out too! Other people have thought he was going through chemo. A friend of mine has an adult brother who has Downs and alopecia as well. Once he came to our ward and a little girl saw him and went running to her mom, "I just saw Noah but he was all grown up!" Anyway we love little Noah's smooth bald head. Sometimes he'll grow a hair or two and Scott will lather him up for a "haircut," which Noah enjoys. Bald is beautiful! And I must say Scott appreciates having someone in the house with less hair.