the question of resemblance

My mother called today to tell me how much Henry looks like his sisters ... and my brother, Frank. Then my sister called to tell me how much Henry looks like his brother ... and my Uncle Bernie.

The vast majority of people polled thinks that Carolyn looks like me ... Henry looks like Carolyn ... William looks like his dad ... and Elizabeth is a cross between the two of us.

Because Charlie has been home the past two days while I've been recovering from what is surely the flu, I spent some of my "rest" time scouring our digital photo archives from when the triplets were around the same age as Henry. I also scoured our old family photo albums and tried to pull pictures of Charlie and I when we were infants so I could further evaluate this question of genetics and resemblance.

I present the following for consideration:

Our first born, William Charles, Jr. With blond hair and striking blue eyes, he could have been the next Gerber Baby. There are a hand full of blond haired people on Charlie's side of the family, as well as mine. I have been blond all my life. What?! Oh alright!! I was blond without any assistance until I was around 18 (plus or minus 6 years). His ears remind me of my dad's. His ability to talk nonstop without taking a breath reminds me of myself.

Our second born, Elizabeth Jeanne - although I will forever be convinced that she was actually our third born, and switched at birth with her sister, Carolyn Grace. As an infant, her head full of brown hair had blond tips. Her hair is wavy when damp, much like her father, and she has deep blue eyes, with an even deeper blue rim. With some of the expressions she gives me, the resemblance to my sister, Eileen, is uncanny. We have a photo of Charlie's mom taken when she was ~3-years-old (circa 1932) that makes me think Elizabeth's looks may hail predominantly from her father's side of the family.

Our third born, Carolyn Grace - who is most definitely the middle child of the triplet bunch. With gorgeous marbled blue eyes and slow-growing dark brown hair, she did not require her first haircut until her siblings had each received at least five. She is the tallest of the group by two inches, and given that Charlie and his two brothers are all over six-feet tall, I suspect that she gets her height genes from her dad's side of the family. Her singing ability clearly comes from me. This child can really carry a tune.

Our fourth born, Henry David. With marbled blue eyes and light brown hair, my heart skips a beat every time I look at this face ... even when there is drool on his chin. He has got the happiest disposition of any baby I've ever come across. But his inability to embrace the glory that is sleep, comes from neither his mother, nor his father. To date, this child has not slept more than 9 hours at a stretch. Even still, we've decided to keep him.

Mr. Incredible, himself. This photo was taken on his first birthday. He is so darn cute, I wish I could reach back in time 40 years, pick him up and give him a squeeze. What a wonderful gift Charlie's arrival was for his parents. When Charlie was born, his oldest sister, Susan was 15. His brother George was 13 and his brother Steve was 5. His mother thought that she was finished having babies when along comes this surprise baby boy who they lovingly nicknamed "Little Guy." With time, "little" dropped off, but to this day, his family still calls him "Guy".
The sink bather, herself. This photo was taken when I was around eight-months old. Judging from the hot pink sparkled toilet cover ... it was snapped before my mother completed the remodel of our old house on Walnut Street. Growing up, I clearly remember that downstairs bathroom had gold and black fuzzy wallpaper.

If you can't tell who looks like who, perhaps you can tell me what the purpose of tinfoil is over a soap holder. That has always eluded me.