Mongolian spots

Not a pic of Richard

We all have accidents. My preschool children, although mostly potty trained, have accidents more often than I would like.  Once while changing Richard, I noticed strange splotchy blue marks on his behind.  Cindy explained that these spots, which are found on nearly 90-95% of Asian children, are called Mongolian spots, and that they disappear later in life.  She also said that when Asians first started immigrating to America, doctors suspected abuse after seeing these markings, not understanding that the marks were birthmarks, and not bruises.
Now that I know what they are, I've been looking for them and its true, nearly every baby I've seen has these markings. The markings are most common on the behind, but they also occur on the back. Our co-worker's baby, even has one on her shoulder.  Wikipedia explains, "It results from the entrapment of melanocytes in the lower half to two-thirds of the dermis during their migration from the neural crest to the epidermis during embryonic development"  Basically, its just some type of discoloration of the skin that occurs during development in the womb and is corrected as the child develops further.  Living in a foreign country is quiet intriguing. You never know what our going to learn next.