Recessive Obsessive
Hygiene Chronicles | May 15My favorite thing about becoming a dad was watching what traits my son would inherit. Unfortunately, neither family has Nobel Prize winners, but then again, we don’t have serial killers either, so I’d say that gives the kid a fair shot at being somewhat normal…relatively speaking, of course.
So when we all decided to have a child, I thought it was only fair to warn the moms of one most likely outcome. “We’re going to have a son,” I told them. (The Y chromosome runs through our family like the common cold.)
The moms just laughed it off. “Given that we haven’t even conceived yet, that might be a little presumptuous, Mr. Ultrasound.”
HA! Call me the Dionne Warwick Psychic Friends Network, but I pegged this one a mile away.
The first time I saw him, he had light blond hair and blue eyes. I tried to console the birth mom. “Hey, I know he looks just like me, but maybe a few of your traits will emerge someday.”
OK, lesson #1, never try to be humorous with a woman who just went through eleven hours of labor and popped out a 9.6 lb. kid naturally. “All kids have blue eyes when they are born, you ding dong,” she said. (Actually, much harsher words came out at that time, but this is a family show so I’m keeping it cleaning.) I bit my tongue since there was no point in proving my superior intelligence. Besides, the lactation nurse had just arrived and since seeing the ‘girls’ come out ain’t my thing, I ditched to go stare at my gene pool in the next room.
Our son’s Mom has dark curly hair, brown eyes and more of an olive complexion. I’m about as Scandinavian/Polish looking as you can get. My partner always calls me ‘the other white meat.’ While it would have been great to have my kid look a little like me, I knew the chances would be slim. However, his mom is beautiful, so if he looked like her, he’d be a heart breaker.
Turns out my swimmers are pretty powerful and the next thing you know, we have a little towhead with bright blue eyes running around. He’s a little mini-me. My mom was over at our house looking at pictures and said, “He looks so cute in this black & white picture. You know we have a picture of you that looks just like this one.” Even the grandma is fooled. “Mom, that is me.”
This past year, the boy finally settled on writing left-handed, just like dear old dad. It’s been amazing to see how genetics work through the lives of those you create. Traits that you never really thought about magically appear before your eyes.
About a month ago, we were all having dinner and the moms were talking about event that had taken place one Saturday morning. “It was terrible. He was moody and whined and pouted. We couldn’t get him out it and just let him sulk all day.”
My partner just looked over at me and smiled.
I quickly looked over at the birth mom. “Well, it’s nice to see that some traits are coming from your side.”
I think I know why you ended the story there… she probably called you yet another name not fit for a family site! ;)
I was always anxious to see what color eyes my kids would have. I think it has to do with being half-Japanese and having hazel green eyes. My husband has blue eyes, so there was no doubt what the kids would get from him. My daughter’s eyes are the exact same shade of grey-blue as my mother’s. My son has very dark blue eyes. So far, neither of them has come up with the brown-eyed gene in the mix.
When my daughter was born, my mother exclaimed, “I gave birth to this baby already!” My husband didn’t believe her until she pulled out my baby book and showed him my hospital photo. I believe the words that came out of his mouth were “holy crap!” Our son looked like my brother at birth, but everyone says he looks like his dad now. Though he looks nothing like my husband’s baby pictures - he was blond and fair, and has since darkened up. Our son started life with a head of dark brown hair and has never lost it.
My brother and my sister each have a daughter now. They are both blue-eyed. It’s like a freakin’ coin toss each time!
I crack up every time someone says: “He looks just like you!”
Ummmmm yeah, I’m his Dad. Duh.
It’s as if they are somehow surprised he would look like me. I always retort with, “You should see the milkman!”
Actually, we have a “milkperson”.
I have five daughters and they all pretty much look just like me. I know it must REALLY piss my ex off (he’s the father of the oldest 2). Ha! In your face… your kids will ALWAYS look like me, Mister Jerkoff! hahah
There is one problem, though. I’m left-handed and cannot seem to produce an lefty to save my life! Now, the little one, she’s not quite two yet and we’re still not sure where she will land - she uses both hands quite proficiently.
Good comeback there:-)) We were very curious about how our son would turn out. Mixing a Swede from the north pole with a Mexican must make the DNA police freak out. I think he turned out great. In my view he definitely looks mostly like his mom, thank God, but many of my traits are on the inside. We are now expecting number two, a girl, in August and we are as curious now of what the outcome will be.
AD
The unique aspect of having two at a time is that you get to see so clearly how mixed up the genetic soup gets. Our Okapis have such clear definable traits that are either mine or my wife’s. Our son is more hesitant, anxious, quick to get down on himself, but also coordinated and has a great ear for sounds and music - all like me. Our girl has a joy of life, is tactile, has a wonderful laugh and a big mouth (literally!!!) - just like her mother. Yet he has traits of hers and she has traits of mine. Looking at them both at the same time and seeing the mixture of both physical and personality traits is truly incredible.
I recently heard an intersting idea: an anthropological theory that hypothesizes that all babies have the emmediate predisposition to look like the father. It’s nature’s way of getting us to take care of the little monsters. Millions of years of genetic practice - to get baby daddy to step up to the plate.
“I quickly looked over at the birth mom. “Well, it’s nice to see that some traits are coming from your side.” ”
And you lived to post about it?
Right there proves the quality of life that the child will benefit from. And anybody that thinks differently is nuts.
What I’d heard was that firstborns tend to look like their father, later borns look more like their mother. Anecdotally, it works for many families I know. So tell your wife there’s hope with the next one.
I’m forwarding this to my husband, who is blond, fair, blue eyes, and left handed. Our almost 2 year old son looks nothing like me. He is almost white haired, fair, blue eyes and left handed. Just like dad. Whoever said that the darker genes are more dominant hasn’t met my husband’s family.
Bush is forever saying that democracies do not invade other countries and start wars. Well, he did just that. He invaded Iraq, started a war, and killed people. What do you think? How does that work in a democracy again? How does being more threatening make us more likeable?Isn’t t
he country with the most weapons the biggest threat to the rest of the world? When one country is the biggest threat to the rest of the world, isn’t that likely to be the most hated country?
If ever there was ever a time in our nation’s history that called for a change, this is it!
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!