Monday, August 01, 2011

Black Woman + Spanish Man = Asian Baby?

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

I swear to God I will stop writing about babies as soon as my brain returns to full functioning capabilities, but right now I'm working at like 50 percent capacity due to 'sleepus interruptus.' But I still wanted to show up here on the Meltingpot.

First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for your kind words and congrats. I feel so blessed to have such fantastic, dedicated readers. Second, everyone who commented will be part of the drawing for the free book which will be announced on Friday.

And third, I just wanted to share the funny comments I've been getting about babygirl. And please note, I take no offense at any of them because well, most of them are true. You see, my daughter was born with a head full of shiny black hair and beautiful almond shaped eyes and she's the color of creamy butter. You see where this is heading, right? Everyone who sees her believes she looks Asian. From the nurses in the hospital to well-meaning friends and family I've heard, "She sure looks Chinese, doesn't she?" Some have decided that she doesn't look 'Chinese' exactly, but rather more like an Eskimo/Alaska Native. My mom keeps calling her our little papoose. One thing is for sure, she really doesn't look like anyone in the current Kinky Gazpacho family.

I think genetics are really fascinating. I know her hair will eventually curl ( I think) and her skin will most likely darken (probably) and her grey eyes will eventually turn brown (or green). And she will start to look more like 'our child' and less like this exquisite creature sprung forth from heaven. But it sure is a trip while we wait.

What about your kids? Did they look foreign or familiar when they were born? Is this a mixie phenomenon only? I'm curious so please share.

I'm listening (and trying not to fall asleep).

Peace.

8 comments:

Lisa MB said...

My two-year-old looked like a lot like my husband, with loose curls all over. Until his baby hair began to fall out on the sides of his head. It finally got to the point where The Husband observed: "He looks like Baby Kim Jong-il."

Fortunately, the hair grew in and now the two-year-old only acts like a dictator in high heels *sometimes.*

Hope you're enjoying your new cuteness.

Wendy (Colombia Mami) said...

Both parents are "white". My mom thought I looked Native American when I was born. Indeed, I had thick straight black hair and a dark complexion. My mom was sure those deep grey eyes would turn brown. (interestingly enough my grandfather does have a Native American background.) I looked nothing like my sister when she was born.

Fast forward to when I was three years old, I had pale skin, pale blue eyes and whiter skin than my sister. My hair was honey brown.

My mom still talks about (in a funny, lovely way) that neither one of her daughters ended up with brown eyes like hers. Brown eyes are dominate. But my grandma (mom´s mom) has blue eyes and my dad has blue eyes. Thus we both inherited the recessive blue eyes.

MamaB said...

I am caucasian with blue eyes while my husband is African-American/Native American with brown eyes. All three kids are very fair with blue eyes and curly hair. One son has blond/lt brown curls and gets so many complements. Genetics are very interesting!

soy yo said...

My son, whose father is Mexican, looks a lot like him and not much like me. I am 'white.' He was born with dark brown eyes and a head of straight black hair.

People kept saying that the hair would fall out and grow in lighter, but then I never told them that the father (absent) was Mexican. It was interesting some of the comments.

His dark brown, almost black almond shaped eyes have always been striking against his lighter skin and black hair. He is now 13.

Nikkie said...

My cousin had a baby and the father is mixed (Black and Indian). Sometimes in pictures, my baby cousin looks Asian. As she has gotten older, not so much. Too cute:)

Anonymous said...

My mom would tell us stories like that. Although my mom said that nobody had any problems deciphering my race,my sibling were a different story.As a little boy, my brother had the hardest time understanding what it is to LOOK Black and BEING it.When one of our White friends told him what he was, he cried thinking that they were trying be funny towards. Then my mom had to explain to him that while he looked like a little White boy, his genetics said that he was Black..along with his curly hair and his parents.

When my sister was born, she was like my brother..fair complexioned and in her case, her reddish hair sticking straight up. According to my mom, a White nurse wrote "White" on her birth certificate. When my mother was woke up, she looked at it and was stunned at this. She had to tell the nurse that my sister wasn't White and still couldn't be even if one of the parents was White. She just laughed it off and the staff corrected the mistake.

Today, we all joke about and my sister tell my mom what would have happened if she would have left it as White. My sister no longer looks like a White person. With some people, it has been hard for them to get the government to do it.A couple of years This happened to an Ethiopian man who wanted to be declared as a Black man instead of White.

Jessie said...

I am Mexican and my husband is black. Our son adn daughter where both very light when they were born with a head full of hair. My son is three with curly ringlets and my daughter's hair is starting to curl.

My husband received alot of flack since the babies were light. Eventually both of my kids darkened to a creamy brown color like cafe con leche with big beautiful brown eyes.

My younger bro has almond shaped eyes, dark skin, and dark hair. Who knows, genetics is weird, who knows where we really come from and what is really in our blood?

But, my cousin who is married to a black man has one light child and one dark child. Both have curly hair.

Anonymous said...

I'm black, people tell me I'm dark, but I always say medium complexsion. It doesn't matter either way..but when my son was born 20 years ago in Indiana I was the only black woman on the entire maternity ward with a biracial baby. So, the nurses in the cardiac unit, and every other damn unit in the hospital came to see him, lol.

My son is light. I mean to the point when I look at his legs they are white, lol. My friends would say that you could tell by his ears if he would get darker or not. They swore up and down he would, now I never cared about this, but wondered. The older people told me that he wasn't goign to get any darker? Why? Because his ears were light, lol...dear god the theories that we have, lol.

My son gets darker in the summer time when he gets tanned from the sun. Other than that, he's still my little light skinned baby boy.