Keke Palmer’s Baby Leo Debuted a New Look in the Cutest Pictures & People Have Big Feelings
When babies become toddlers, a whole new world opens up. Suddenly, they are talkative and funny and creative and silly. They make their preferences known, and they learn how to express themselves. Sure, sometimes this leads to battles — every toddler parent has accidentally given the wrong sippy cup or made the grave error of trying to pick out their shirt — but mostly, it’s just so sweet to see who these little humans are growing up. Keke Palmer’s son Leodis “Leo” fits into that category. He recently debuted a new hairstyle, and it’s a bright, fun look that definitely matches what we’ve seen of this little firecracker. The only problem? People got mad at the 2-year-old’s unique style.
Palmer shared a ton of adorable new photos of her son on Leo’s own Instagram account, run by his Palmer and her ex Darius Jackson. Leo looks fashionable as always, this time in a white t-shirt underneath camo-print overalls, but it’s his hair we noticed right away. His long brown hair is sporting tiny braids, which are accentuated by orange beads on the ends. Leo looks adorable with his new ‘do!
In the photos, Leo grins as he admires himself in a selfie (we don’t blame him!), shares a snack with his mom, and poses with a cool dinosaur-print water bottle outside.
“How’s life? Pretty good I’d say!” the post, which was written from Leo’s perspective, was captioned. “Just been hanging out and having fun with mommy at her new job. Easter is coming soon, praying good things for all of you. God bless!!”
The Bosses star commented twice on the cute post. First, “I love you!!!” and then, “Mommy loved braiding your hair!!” Aww! It seems unfathomable that someone could have a problem with this too-precious-for-words little boy, but they did. Mom-shamers came for Palmer for braiding her son’s hair — because apparently there aren’t enough real problems in the world for people to complain about.
“His so Handsome but I dont like the beads,” one person said, prompting another person to write, “EXACTLY ????.” Um, OK?! We didn’t ask you!
Someone else rudely wrote, “I’m not liking the beads I thought he was a girl until had to really look again I don’t get why females do this to a boy at all ????” First of all, even if you subscribe to traditional gender norms and dress your girls all in pink and your boys all in blue, people will still mistake babies for one sex or the other. My boys have all been called “pretty girls” at some point in time, and my 6-month-old frilly, pink-loving niece has been called a boy. So, do what you want? Who cares if you can’t tell, it’s not crucial.
Some thoughts are inside thoughts, OK?! If you don’t like how a toddler has chosen to express himself or how a parent has dressed their kid, simply — and I know this is a novel idea — keep scrolling.
This isn’t the first time Leo has rocked braids (and looked awesome while doing it). For his birthday in February, Palmer braided his hair with green beads that spelled out “LEO” and “TWO.” In a post from Leo’s perspective, it was revealed that Palmer used distraction to get the braids done, like a true boss.
“I had the best birthday ever!!” the post from Leo’s perspective read. “It started off with my mommy braiding my hair. She really annoyed me with that but we were watching Nemo so I was distracted enough ????”
At the end, Leo wrote, “You guys see my name in my hair? YUH!”
He clearly loves his braids and his beads, and mom-shamers need to take a step back before they let something as innocent and fun as a new hairstyle turn them into mean vultures just waiting to attack a happy toddler and his mom.
Before you go, check out Keke Palmer’s best quotes on motherhood.