Throughout the years, Pig and I have had numerous strangers stop us on the street to tell us how beautiful our kidlets are. We are certainly biased, but we tend to agree with those individuals. Granted, it is quite unnerving to be window shopping and have some strange woman rush up to you while exclaiming, "Oh, my goodness! You could have the next Gerber baby!" (That was in reference to a two-month old Horse, as she nestled snugly in one of those strap-on baby carriers that makes Mommy walk with a funny gait while trying to either not bump baby's dangling feet or see over baby's head, depending on the size of both Mommy and baby.) All three kidlets have been ooh-ed and ahh-ed over by countless people who have no idea who we are or whether my innocent looking kidlets are actually biters waiting for the perfect target to come and squeeze their pudgy cheeks.
It's not just strangers who drool over my kidlets. Friends, acquaintances, my former co-workers, and Pig's current co-workers have all sworn that we produce adorable kidlets. There is, however, a major difference between how strangers and friends comment. People we know almost always ask the same question. "How on earth did YOU manage to have such beautiful children?" The first time we heard that, we pondered why someone would say such a thing. Assuming they were insulting our looks, whether it be intentionally or inadvertently, we just smiled and answered, "Recessive genes." That drove a blush to the cheeks of the questioning individual. We have used that response ever since.
Today, Horse told me how a friend of hers questioned how she, meaning Horse, got so pretty. Horse confessed that she was at a loss for how to respond to her friend. I dusted off our long-standing retort and told her she could just tell her friend it was all those recessive genes she inherited from her father and I. My kidlet's response? "Mom, you're not THAT ugly." Yeah. Thanks for the boost to the old self-esteem, kiddo.
I cannot wait for the day when she looks in the mirror and realizes she has turned into her mother.
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