I know you’re supposed to think of your child as their own, independent person with a unique personality blahblahblah. But honestly I spend most of my time filtering my child’s physical features, personality and actions into two categories: That’s sooo ME and That’s sooo MY HUSBAND.
Babies are the ultimate remix.
In case you’re wondering, here’s the breakdown so far:
Hair – me
Eyes – him (by way of his mother)
Nose – me
Mouth – me
Scowl – me (by way of my mother)
Chin – him (by way of his father)
Ears – one of each (I’m serious)
Hands and feet – him
Gut – me
Smile – me
Curiosity – him
Laid-backness – him
Ambition – me
Insomnia – him
Addiction to technology – me
Appetite – me
Sense of adventure – him
Weirdness – both
Love of the sea – him
Impatience – me
Stubbornness – all me
The other day a woman in a cafe told me Ruby was gorgeous. ”Oh thank you!” I responded. Then she said, “She has the most gorgeous eyes!”. I sighed, “You can thank her father for those.”
My Her scowl
Techno-Ruby
Hehe, I am reminded of this every time I think “this girl is so stubborn!” Of course she is, she’s mine!! I think because we see each other every day the direct linkages are less noticeable to me, but I was quite weirded out when an acquaintance met my brother and reported back that Anna has HIS eyes, and I do find it weird when I see a flash of a grandparent or an uncle in her expression or whatever. Very weird, seeing children as receptacles of everyone else