When we first went to meet little J, underneath his pink and yellow flowered overalls he was wearing a thick, aqua pair of girls size 7 tights. This on a little punkin weighing no more than 20 lbs. They were all bunched up around his crotch, probably causing him more trouble moving around than his diaper.

In practically every picture I've seen of children in Russian orphanages they are wearing tights. I am not exactly sure why, but I have some theories.

First theory: it's cold in Russia! Little J's orphanage was quite chilly inside, so the tights were probably giving him some extra insulation. Plus, he was rather skinny at that point (now he's quite the chunk) and so an extra layer served him well.

Second theory: the tights take the place of diapers. I mentioned that Little J was wearing a diaper when we met him, but apparently they put it on just for our benefit. The children in his gruppa did not normally wear a diaper. Instead, they were given very little to drink and put on the potty regularly. So maybe the tights help take care of the problem of not-quite-potty-trained 15 month-olds. As if that were even possible.

According to this website about historical clothing, the fashion for Russian children since the 1960s has been to wear long stockings under their shorts, so the tights are just an extension of that.

Here's a newspaper article about the adoption of a little girl that supports my theory #2 - tights instead of diapers.

Now, I didn't see all that many non-orphanage bound children when I was in Russia. We were generally walking around city streets at night and it seemed logical that all the families were at home doing family things. We did see one little girl with her mother while we were shopping in Moscow mid-day, and I think she was wearing tights with her pretty dress and Mary-Janes, but they were a far cry from the thick orphanage tights that Little J was sporting.

I bet that non-orphans in Russia wear tights, too. It stands to reason it's like their preoccupation with HATS on babies. I wonder, had we tried to dress Little J in shorts, would anyone have told his to put some tights on the boy.