The other day, Nyan’s Montessori school celebrated Racial Harmony Day. All the kids were to wear some sort of national or ethnic clothing for the day. We wanted to somehow honor his dual heritages, so we had a couple of choices for outfits. Oh, sure, we considered his standard Iowa Hawkeyes t-shirt, but decided we’d class it up a little bit (no offense to Iowans, of course!) by putting him in traditional Burmese garb. So we popped by Peninsula Plaza – the local shopping mall that’s home to dozens and scores of Burmese grocers, clothing stories, travel agencies and more – and got him a lon-gyi (the long piece of fabric that Burmese men wear in lieu of pants) and a traditional Burman shirt, the kind Nyan’s great-grandfather wore when he was a lawyer back in Colonial Burma.

He looked pretty good, if we do say so ourselves. And he got numerous approving looks from passers-by on the way to school.

Here is is on the way to school, asking questions about whatever he sees on the way, of course (note his toy helicopter. He has to bring one truck, plane or other vehicle to school each day to share with his friend Oregon (yes that’s his friend’s name)):