Look-Alike

The first comments about a baby are always about who's features can be discerned in their wrinkled, old man faces. Immediately, Ella was deemed her daddy's little girl because she looked like him. His eyes, his face; these features were so prominent that not one person could leave without commenting on their similarities. People searched for these look-alike characteristics and seemed happy to find them.

As a young girl, I would trace the veins on my mother's hard-working hands and think about how knobby her knuckles seemed on her long fingers. One day, in my late twenties, I looked down to notice my own hands were shaped just like my mother's yet age had not caused the bulging veins and my knuckles were large though not knobby. It was at this moment I realized I was happy to have her hands. She had died many years ago and as memories fade, her image faded, too. These hands were her hands, a physical trait that would be a reminder of her.



When Ella was born, first remarks were made about her long fingers and long feet. Ella will have my hands, I'm sure, and it made me glad. This is a way she can remember me and know something about her grandmother. There are other noteworthy features, too.

Ella has a brilliant smile. She smiles and all activity could stop because I am focused on her in those moments. Her smile looks like her grandfather, my dad. She has a beautiful heart-shaped mouth and it is widened and accentuated when she smiles. It is a pleasure to know she has a bit of my father's looks in her. It is a kind of legacy, a passing down to your children of their history.


As always, Remco and I are fascinated with our daughter. Most people will say Ella looks like Remco because the shape of her eyes is very obviously the same shape as her dad's eyes. Both of us are waiting to discover other features we can identify as ours in her.

It is becoming more and more clear that Ella has her own unique traits and her personality is starting to show. She is doing things with more purpose and demonstrating her own needs. No matter how much she may be a look-alike to her parents, she is going to be her own individual.