Thursday, February 07, 2008

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.

12 comments:

  1. I suggest you try this:
    www.hyheritage.com/look-alike-meter
    it's fun and all you need are photos of the babies and grown-up images of the parents. Have fun!
    Iceland :)

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  2. WITHOUT LOOKING at your poll results from the second paragraph, I came to the exact same conclusions.

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  3. Tin foil...hmmmmm... maybe to keep the soap from falling out? It's no wonder why you guys have such cute kids - you, both were very cute, too! Hope you are feeling better - I'm getting over the stomach flu! YUCK! Hope Shayna doesn't get it!

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  4. I think Elizabeth looks JUST like you in your baby picture. Other than that, I don't see any strong resemblances between the others and you and Charlie...more that they are a mixture of you guys.

    That being said I have 3 kids of my own who are 5 (twins) and 8 months and I STILL can't figure out who they look like, so I'm probably not the best judge!!!

    Hope you are feeling better soon!!!

    Kelly

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  5. Jen, I've seen a few shots of you through your blog and you're really a VERY pretty lady. And your hubs...hubba, hubba! So your kiddos have been so blessed to get your and Charlie's looks. Darling kids, the whole lot of them!

    After all you've been through is it hard for you to believe you have a "lot" of kids? LOL!

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  6. Wild stuff!!! How fun!

    Henry=Charlie (even the expression on his mouth!)

    Elizabeth=Jen (more or less)

    And yet, many of the pix of Henry remind me of his sisters. And some of his brothers.

    So you all just look like each other!

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  7. Maybe to keep the soap from dripping onto the sink?

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  8. It's hard to say. You all definitely resemble each other.

    I think I have an answer for the foil though. :-) It's so you don't have to clean the soap dish. If it ever gets covered in soap scum, throw out the foil and start over.

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  9. It is rather hard to say, but I will say that before this was even discussed, I have [i]always[/i], ever since Henry was born, thought him and Carolyn look just alike.

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  10. www.myheritage.com has a Look-alike Meter where you can upload a picture of a child, their father, and their mother and then the program will scan the faces and tell you which one the child looks more like. I don't know how reliable it is but I thought it was pretty interesting. As for me, I think that William and Elizabeth have the same nose and Henry and Carolyn have the same nose...but I can't tell whose noses they have lol. I think that the boys' eyes are their dominant feature (if that makes sense) and they get that from their mother. Overall, I think William looks more like his father, Elizabeth and Henry looks a little like both, and Carolyn looks mostly like you.

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  11. I think Elizabeth looks like you, William like hubby and Carolyn a mix from your baby pics. My daughter Ava liked William so much apparently she somehow printed out his baby pic. Came flying downstairs this morning saying, "Look mom! I took a picture of a baby!" and handed me the paper printout. Lol
    He was a gorgeous baby for sure!

    Cristy

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  12. I Think they all look just like me--except Guy. William is so beautiful with his enormous eyes. They are all handsome children me thinks. And the big one--Healthy. Thank God.
    Sarah got it right. The tin foil was to keep the soap deposits from getting into the soap dispenser after so many hand washings in that bathroom. I hope your friend does not see you being bathed in the Bathroom sink--heaven forbid. I put you in every kind of a pot or pan to wash you.
    Get well soon=Uck those bugs in the can---write to the company and raise cain.
    MOM

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