The other day I was looking for a particular photo when I stumbled upon one that made me gasp—no exaggeration. The family resemblance was striking.
I found an image of my older sister as a toddler, and Peeper’s resemblance is uncanny. See for yourself:
The cheek action and blond curls aren’t the only family resemblance they share.
My mom loves to tell how my sister reacted to other kids taking her toys. Instead of throwing a fit, she’d move onto some blocks or a train. Her apparent fascination with the new toy would lure the kid away from the first one, and Beth would zip back to her original interest.
Last week I saw Peeper take a page from Aunt Bootsie’s book. At a birthday party, a toddler friend tried to squeeze past Peeper to climb the slide, which had been occupying Peeper’s attention. So my little one ran over to a car and began to get inside. When the other girl saw her, she sprinted to the car—leaving the stairs to the slide free and open for my daughter.
Time will tell if Peeper acquires some of her aunt’s other traits, but I hope she does. The world would be lucky to count another citizen who’s as smart, thoughtful, funny, talented and strong as my older sister—who has outgrown her taste for tulips but not, apparently, her appreciation for beauty.
I love to look for family resemblance—whom Peeper looks like, whom she acts like, whom she might grow up to emulate. For me, family resemblance is a way to wonder at the future.
Who will my daughter become? Time will tell. In the meantime, I love reflecting on family resemblance with an open mind. Now and in the years to come, I love who my Peeper is.
Love this post! It serves as a great reminder why one needs to datestamp and ID the photos. Because decades or even generations later, it becomes very difficult to figure out who is who.
YES! I’ve been getting better about labeling events and photos in my iPhoto library for precisely this reason.
wow! that’s awesome! i love family resemblance photos – once found one of my mom in high school that looked just like me. felt surreal!
I love those moments! Though my mom in high school was a dead ringer for my younger sister, other than hair color.
When you look at photos of my husband at our son’s age now, they are almost identical. Other than my husband hair being a shade lighter, they look so much alike. My sister looks just like my mom, but I it’s funny how genes work, because I look more like my grandma’s sister and her daughter.
Genes are funny too because kids look like different family members depending on their age. In certain pics, Peeper looks just like her dad’s baby pictures or her eldest cousin, but now she’s looking more like my side of the family.
How sweet! And Aunt Bootsie is the cutest nickname for an auntie I’ve ever heard.
Aw thanks, Loni! It’s an old, old nickname we’ve called my sister for ages.
Ha! I definitely thought that first photo was Pepper! I love this. My aunt and I looked tons alike as children also, which I always thought was so fun.
Wow, they look SO much alike! I never see any of my children in me, but now I can see some of me in my parents.