Genetics, Part II

OK, so here's a weird one for ya.

How is it possible that Cole looks just like pictures of Brian at this age....the Ambrosch side of his family tree...yet ALSO looks just like pictures of his Uncle Russell at this age....the Facente side of his family tree?

Check it out:

Brian

Russell

Cole

Yup - They do "connect"

Yes - they do "connect" in weird ways as my dad points out in his comment to the below post.

Just this morning Cole picked his nose and said Bo Bo...and as some may remember that is what Shelley's family use to call me, I use to think that was cute - endearing, but once I realized it was just a family way of saying booger, I think I am not so happy anymore!

Keeping an eye open for future connections!

My Eyes are set on Madagascar

Well, Cole has entered an obsessive phase - where he fixates on something and then it's just that thing, all the time.

Like eyes. For some reason, he has decided that - at least for the moment - the eyes are the coolest part of the body. And I don't just mean he likes eyes. He looks for eyes in everything. He points to his eyes, my eyes, your eyes, stranger's eyes, the cat's eyes, eyes of the characters in his books, eyes in the masks we have hanging on the wall, patterns that look like eyes in things....eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes. It is his obsession (closely followed, by the way, by another favorite: "ball.")

But perhaps most fascinating is his obsession with Madagascar. No, not the kid's movie - he's never seen that. I mean the country. For like two months now, every time he sees a map or a globe, he looks and then points to Madagascar. Every night, we say goodnight to this world map on our wall that has push pins for all the places we've traveled, and he points to Madagascar with a big smile and says something like "Madagagagas." He just loves Madagascar. We never taught him that. We have no idea where this came from.

So I guess maybe he's trying to tell us he wants to go to Madagascar. Too bad they're kind of in the midst of a civil war right now. It does, ironically, happen to be the only place on earth where lemurs come from. And if you don't know what a lemur looks like.......think "eyes!!":

Genetics

For most of my life, I've been a staunch social constuctionist. It has always seemed to me that with all the amazing differences that exist among people all around the world, it's just not realistic to think that how we act, think and even to some extent how we look could be somehow hard-coded...but rather, we're taught how we're supposed to act, think, and look from the very second we're born.

Now that I've passed on my genetic code, though, all my previous beliefs are really being challenged. There are these little things Cole does that just CAN'T be learned! Take for instance, this picture (which he took himself, by the way):




Ever since he was in utero, Cole has been crossing his ankles. As those of you who remember our pregnancy know, I had a LOT of ultrasounds when I was pregnant. And at least half a dozen times, a technician commented with a chuckle that the baby was in there, crossing his ankles. And still, almost 2 years later, he does it all the time.

Now, ordinarily, this would just be an amusing quirk. Except, anyone who really knows me will know that is one of my trademarks. I always have my ankles crossed, and I'm usually not even aware of it. How in the world can a weird habit like that be somehow genetic? It totally blows my mind.

Ah, parenthood.

I fed 'im to the fishes

Halloween is always a fun time in the Ambrocente household. Last year, Cole was really too small to understand what was going on (but he was, as always, a good sport for Mom and Dad's shenanigans). This year, he was still a bit young for any trick or treating, but he got into the spirit of our Halloween Party for sure.

I can't say he was amused when he woke up from his nap and a pirate came to get him instead of his good ol' mom. It took about 10 minutes before he'd even let me pick him up - he just stared at me like I'd lost my mind entirely. But then he warmed to my beard and things got better from there.

This year, our theme revolved around the water - one of Cole's favorite things lately. I was a pirate fisherman, Brian was the swamp thing I was trying to catch, and Cole was....well, he was bait. (We're good parents.) Word to the wise: costumes that attach mother to child are only a good idea if you're not planning on hosting a party with about 50 people in attendance.


This was our first Halloween in our new house, and our neighborhood really lived up to expectations - lots of neighbors getting into the Halloween spirit, plus more trick-or-treaters in one evening than in all the years we were in Oakland, combined! It was our turn to host the monthly neighborhood potluck, so we had lots of visitors who brought all sorts of delicious food (Cole's favorite was the eyeball cookies...thanks, Alysse! All I heard all afternoon was, "Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes.....")

Hope you had a spooky, fun Halloween, too - wherever you are!