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wotd: hirsute

hirsute \HUR-soot; HIR-soot; hur-SOOT; hir-SOOT\, adjective
1. Covered with hair; set with bristles; shaggy; hairy.

In my class I have a little girl so petite and cherubic that the other kids call her "baby." She's extremely capable, though, and fascinated with women and women's bodies. She's often asked me about my boobies and observed that my boobies aren't as big as her mommy's. Today I heard her talking about "when I'm grown up and have a baby in my tummy." It reminded me of when I was grown up and had a baby in my tummy. When Jack was born I was prepared for the fluids and the lopsided skull and the blotchy skin and hoping he wouldn't be vernixed, but I'd somehow convinced myself there'd be no lanugo. But when my baby was born he was incredibly hirsute, with downy hair covering his tiny rounded shoulders and back, and mutton chops as intense as Elvis Presley's. The lanugo was soon replaced by jaundice. I think I would have preferred a little bear cub baby to a little mustard baby. No matter. He's no longer little but he'll always be my baby.

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