My family, friends, and I used to have fun guessing what our babies would look like. Would they have darker features like me or a fair complexion like their Dad? But I wasn’t prepared for the strange comments, questions, and double takes. I found myself saying, “Yes she’s mine” and “No, I’m not the nanny, he’s really my son” to those who don’t believe that my kids are mine.
Now that my daughter is older, she’s beginning to look more like her Mama. She recently visited my job for take your child to work day, and many of my colleagues said they see the resemblance. After years of being asked if she’s mine, I am so much more relieved that I don’t have to explain why we look nothing alike.
My son, on the other hand, is a completely different story. He’ll be two-years-old in a few months and I don’t notice much of change in his complexion. When he stands next to his classmates, he blends right in. Whenever he’s with his dad, there’s no question regarding whether or not he’s the father. But, most may think I’m the nanny.
O and I went for a walk the other day when we ran into one of our neighbors.
“How’s your husband?” he asked.
“He’s good. I’ll tell him you said hi,” I said.
“Didn’t you have another baby?” he asked.
“Yea, this is him,” I answered.
“Whoa, he’s light!” he responded in surprise.
I didn’t know what to say, so I smiled and kept it moving. Yes, our son is fair skinned. He was born with green eyes, which has since turned brown. But, he is 100 percent ours. Sometimes I feel I should preface by stating the obvious to avoid the uncomfortable reactions from people. Then I realize how ridiculous that seems. Some people will always have a case of what I call diarrheaticulitis. There are those who just don’t have a filter and will say whatever comes to mind. I understand that it sort of comes with the territory of being a parent to biracial children, but jeez.
There is a chance that O’s skin may get a bit darker like Princess. But according to my mom, his ears and finger tips are very light. So the chances of that happening are pretty slim. Either way, we’re okay with whatever pigment he ends up with. In the meantime, I have no problem letting people know that I’m not the nanny, he’s my son.
I can’t believe how rude some people can be.
Out of our 7 kids.. only one has my complexion. The rest are very fair skinned like their Irish red-headed father.. 4/7 have my father’s hazel green eyes. It’s amazing how genes work. I remember when we first started having kids, we had fun with one of those eye color predictors and it were right about most of them having hazel eyes.
My mom was from northern Italy and had very fair skin, light eyes and blonde hair. My father is from Jordan and I have his olive complexion, super dark eyes and dark brown hair. People gave us funny looks all the time when she was alive, especially because my brother has her coloring. I was the odd one out.
I think people are more just fascinated and curious and don’t mean anything harmful by it. It IS fascinating to think that I am so dark – even more olive than my dad- and my brother is super fair and we have the same combo of genes.
All I can say is that you make Adorable babies. Your two kids are so cute ! I have a funny story for you about kids that look different than their parents. My brother-in-law married a Filipino woman, and my nieces and nephew look Filipino. When my niece, who has a great sense of humor, even as a young child, was picked up from elementary school by my brother- in- law, my niece pulled a little prank. The teacher had never met my brother- in- law, only my sister- in- law. So the teacher asked my niece if she knew who this man picking her up was. My smartypants niece said ” I’ve never seen him in my life.” Well, after my brother- in- law regained his composure, my niece burst out in laughter and said “Oh Daddy !”
when you run into people like you did just say one thing and that is HAVE A NICE DAY.