A couple of weeks ago, J’s relatives in China found this old photograph and sent it over:
Can you guess who the little girl is? It’s J’s mother when she was about 3 years old!
Everyone immediately noticed how remarkably Claire resembles her grandmother in this picture. Here’s a recent picture of Claire for comparison:
Even my mother did a double-take when I showed her the old picture. “Claire’s going to look just like that in a couple of years,” she predicted. And we couldn’t agree more.
As stated in a previous post, Claire currently resembles her uncle (J’s brother) the most of everyone in our family. Sometimes, you could even swear that she’s a carbon copy of him! And because J and his brother look NOTHING alike (seriously — for all their lives, people have been surprised to learn that they’re even related), we always assumed that the only physical traits that Claire got from her dad were her hands and feet, which are exact miniature replicas.
The reason we were all so surprised to see the resemblance between Claire and J’s mother as a young child is because J looks so much like his mother. So perhaps she has inherited more physical traits from him, but they are not yet apparent?
My mother always says that most babies and children change drastically in appearance as they grow up, so you can never guess what the adult version of them will look like. Take me, for example. I looked like my dad’s Mini-Me throughout my childhood and teenage years, but once I hit my twenties I started to look a lot more like my mom than my dad.
Taking all this into consideration, I can’t wait to see how my children turn out!
One thing is for sure: J’s mother is a beautiful woman — even J says that she was “hot” in her twenties — so we, as parents, may have a lot to worry about when Claire grows up!
A snapshot of my MIL with her sons on J and my wedding day.
As for Aerin, I am starting to see more and more of J in her as the days go by, but there are moments here and there when I am overcome with extreme déjà vu and I could swear that I have gone back in time because she is looking so much like her sister did at her age! However, just as Claire changed so much in just her first year, Aerin could change too, so who knows?
Who do you resemble the most in your family? If you have children, who do they take after?
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I have always felt like the odd one out in my family, because both my brothers so strongly resembled one of my parents, from birth on. It’s difficult to tell apart baby pictures of my middle brother and dad, and same with my baby brother and several members on my mom’s side of the family. I, on the other hand, am a mash-up. At birth, I think I strongly resembled my mom, but from early childhood on, I’ve had my paternal grandmother’s nose, my maternal grandfather’s eyes, curly hair from my mom’s side (that relaxes with every generation – I think my daughter will have only wavy hair while my mom has had the white lady ‘fro for her entire adult life), and I don’t know what else from where.
My daughter, on the other hand, I’m told is a spitting image of me (or my mom, depending on whom the speaker knows best).
From the moment I was born and up until my adolescent years, I looked IDENTICAL to my dad. Not only did I look just like him, I start taking on his personality traits as I matured. I literally was my dad’s mini-me.
That’s so crazy that you found that picture! J’s mom does look like Claire!! From the time I was born to now, I’ve always resembled my Dad. My mother has mentioned to me many times that when I was born, she was convinced (in the haze of drugs) that I was my sister again. My sister grew up to look very much like my mom. It’ll be so fun to see how Aerin and Claire grow and change!
I don’t really think I resemble anyone! My sister and I look similar, but that’s about it! And wow – Claire looks SO much like his mom!
Ha… I’m gonna go ahead and agree with you and your hubby that your MIL is smoking! We should all hope to look that good as Grandmommies! : )
She does look a ton like Claire… they even have the same expression! Cuteness abounds!
I am the spitting image of my mother, and she was and is still a fox 😉
My sisters always teased me that I was adopted because I don’t look much like my mother and it’s hard to tell how I resemble my father. I was scanning/going through a bunch of old family photos from my dad’s sister, and gasped out loud when I saw a picture of a woman, most likely from the 40s, who looked.just.like.me. Well, I looked like her. We’re not certain whose daughter she is, but she is related to my father and it finally clicked that I really do resemble his side of the family.
Claire’s going to be quite the looker!
Your comment reminded me of an old Babysitters Club book where Claudia was convinced she was adopted because she didn’t look like anyone in her family, and at the end of the book her father shows her an old picture of her grandmother Mimi and they look exactly alike! And WOW I can’t believe I remember all this from a book I read 20 years ago!
I’ve always been told I’m a carbon copy of my mother. When I was 15, my brother saw a picture of her from that age and thought it was me.
I always teased my parents that their genes couldn’t decide what to do with me because I’m very much a mash-up of both of them–as in, each of my features is half and half. It’s pretty easy to see, too, since my parents’ features are quite different (dad is Chinese, mom is Filipino). From the front, my nose looks like my mom’s, but when I turn sideways, it looks like my dad’s. I have one eyebrow that is obviously my mom’s and one that is very much my dad’s (makes it annoying to pluck since they’re different). My top lip is my mom’s but my bottom is my dad’s. I have my dad’s eye shape and color and my mom’s eyelashes. My face shape is closer to my dad’s, but with my mom’s cheekbones. Even my hair, when you look at it close up, is a mix of thick, black, wiry strands (dad) and very thin, wavy brown strands (mom). My mom tans very easily and doesn’t burn. My dad can’t tan, but burns easily. My skin doesn’t tan OR burn. I’m the same shade of pale all year round. 😛