Post by hellzkitten on Dec 19, 2012 12:49:07 GMT -5
I have heard a lot of these. "He is so alert" & "he is so serious" - yes, he is trying to figure out the world around him & has been since the day he was born.
"He is so light" - Well, yes, people come in various colors (DH is fairer skinned Hispanic, so for some reason, I guess people thought I was going to have a dark skinned baby?)
C always gets "he has a beautifully shaped head," particularly if they ask how my L&D was and I tell them he was stuck and I pushed for 3.5 hours to get him out.
Both my girls got this a lot. The pedi even gushed over their heads so I take it as a fact now! Lol.
Post by scribellesam on Dec 19, 2012 13:43:39 GMT -5
I get "healthy" a lot, which I've realized is just a nicer way of telling me my son is fat. Which he is, 24 lbs at 7mo, so I mostly find it funny.
I also get lots of comments on his round light blue eyes. I think they are more noticeable because they are so round (he got that from me). People will say "Those eyes!" and then start laughing, so clearly they find them more goofy than handsome.
The comments on skin color have made me remember an embarrassing strange comment I made to someone once. When DD was a baby I would often pass another mom on the street as we walked both our kiddos in strollers. The very first time we stopped to actually chat she was asking about DD who was just born. Her son is a year or 2 older than my DD and is obviously of mixed race. I asked "Is that your son?," meaning "Is that your SON (as opposed to your daughter)?" because I didn't want to start calling him a boy if he was really a girl (he was young and in gender neutral kind of clothing). She gave me a weird look and it immediately struck me that she thought I was asking "Is that YOUR son (or are you just the nanny, because he doesn't look like you)?" I am sure she gets weird comments like that all the time and it was absolutely not what I meant.
I was so embarrassed but there hasn't been any weirdness since in the times we have stopped to chat, thank goodness.
DD1 had a million comments mostly related to her hair. Even before I pushed her out (as she was crowning) the nurses & doc were making comments about her hair. It came out looking "highlighted" and was red & blond & pretty long. Then it turned into super curly & very blond. Also shock that she was as young as she was because she's always been tall. Now people refer to her as "the peacemaker" because she settles arguments among friends all the time. And I get tons of comments on "how sweet my girls are too each other". I'll admit they are super affectionate but I want to say "they better be" back
DD2 mostly got comments about her eyelashes & that "I need to get her an agent".
DD3 only got comments about looking like DH. Poor kid--lol.
Post by MadamePresident on Dec 19, 2012 14:52:53 GMT -5
People comment all the time on the fact that my daughter has red hair. My hair is a very dark brown and I have more olive skintones, so you won't expect me to have a redhead. She looks just like my husband.
People ask me all.the.time if my boys are twins. They have different color hair (blonde vs. brown), different color eyes (blue vs. brown), and the big one is a full head taller than the little one. Nevermind if they are actually speaking, one is clearly older than the other.
People are weird and just want to say something about your kids...so they'll say anything!
We get this too and they really don't look alike. I think it's a round about way of asking me how close in age they are (they're 21 months apart and Ds2 is tall for his age).
My #1 comment is: wow, you have your hands full! Often followed by some "funny" remark like, "you do know what causes it (meaning pregnancy) right?"
It really doesn't bother me but I personally can't imagine saying that to someone.
Post by dcrunnergirl on Dec 19, 2012 16:02:01 GMT -5
I get:
Are they identical? Um, they are boy/girl and look totally different, and that's not even possible.
And my favorite is that whenever they see DH and DS together, I have repeatedly gotten, "Oh, he's your DH's mini-me; at least we know you weren't with the milkman." First, thanks for the vote of confidence in my ability to keep my pants on. Second, is this 1954? Who has a milkman?
Post by statlerwaldorf on Dec 19, 2012 16:15:36 GMT -5
I get lots of comments about how light she is. But really DH isn't fully AA and I'm the palest person ever, so her skin tone is just about directly in between.
I am constantly being asked if I give her a perm. It started when she was a year old. Who gives a baby a perm? It's like these people have never seen natural hair before.
C always gets "he has a beautifully shaped head," particularly if they ask how my L&D was and I tell them he was stuck and I pushed for 3.5 hours to get him out.
Both my girls got this a lot. The pedi even gushed over their heads so I take it as a fact now! Lol.
I tend to leave out the part about how he had a vagina-shaped bruise on the back of his head for a few days post-birth.
She's been mistaken for a boy, but I don't care. A toddler is pretty gender neutral, and I rarely dress her in girl colors.
A few dumb adoption-related comments, but nothing awful.
Her preschool teacher keeps saying DD knows what she wants, and she'll make a good leader.
DD cried a couple of times at her first library story and craft time. She was coming off a cold and wasn't getting her way. Now every time we go, the librarian tells me how much "better" she is.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Dec 19, 2012 17:14:28 GMT -5
Everyone comments on M's hair. Is his hair red??? Where does he get that from?
I don't really mind the people that say something about it being cute. It's the random people at the grocery store that annoy me, I just think to myself...I don't even know you, do you really need to know our family hair color history? Instead I politely say it's from his grandpa.
And my favorite is that whenever they see DH and DS together, I have repeatedly gotten, "Oh, he's your DH's mini-me; at least we know you weren't with the milkman." First, thanks for the vote of confidence in my ability to keep my pants on. Second, is this 1954? Who has a milkman?
We get the same thing. Drives me crazy. Yes, my SON looks like his FATHER. Weird how genetics work, huh?
Other than that, we don't get any strange comments. Everyone says how big DS is, which is true. He's 26 lbs and 28.5" at 10 months old. He's in 2T clothes. His head is the 100th percentile. Yes, he's a big, big boy.
Post by dumbledore826 on Dec 19, 2012 18:32:33 GMT -5
DH is mixed (Ethiopian/White) and I am white (pale/red hair). DS is fair skinned, with medium brown, thin textured hair and blue eyes. Other then his coloring, he IS my DH. They look exactly alike.
I can't even begin to count how many people have asked about his father while DH was with us (even holding him).
I find it entertaining that other parents of mixed kids can look at him and tell.
When DS was in the NICU, MIL made a snarky comment about how we don't have to worry about "Mommy's baby, Daddy's maybe" with him.
People always say that she is darker than me and H.
No shit. Black folk come in a wide range of colors.
I get the same sort of comments. My H is black and I am white, so DD is darker than I am. I have been asked "are you sure she is yours?" and "did she really come out of you?".
My H said next time somebody asks me if DD is mixed or if H is black, I should say "No he is Irish, why do you ask?" Too bad I cannot keep a straight face to do that.
Both my girls got this a lot. The pedi even gushed over their heads so I take it as a fact now! Lol.
I tend to leave out the part about how he had a vagina-shaped bruise on the back of his head for a few days post-birth.
LOL ohh poor baby.
My baby was another who got those "she's so alert!" comments. Including from the pediatrician who examined her in the hospital and her pediatrician at her appointment 2 days after we got out of the hospital. At the time, I was like, "oh, neat!" I did not realize at the time that what that meant was, "your child will never want to nap because she is so interested in the world around her!"
People are also always telling me how cute "he" is. I understand babies and young toddlers are fairly gender neutral, but when I get this comment when she is dressed in pink or purple and silver shoes with bows on them, I start to seriously side-eye their observational skills. DH says I should instead commend them on their open-mindedness and lack of assigned gender stereotypes.
DD is extremely outgoing and has no stranger danger -- she will go up to anyone and make friends. As a result, all the parents in her room at daycare know her. She's also the oldest one in the room, the only one walking, and extremely energetic and all over the place. I was told today that the other parents call her "the Governor" -- as in, "oh, is the Governor absent today?"
Not the standard oh what a cutie type things... what are weird things people say about your baby / child?
My daughter always gets SHE IS SO ALERT. At first I thought this was because she used to scream a ton and it wasn't polite to point that out, but she gets it even when she's in a great mood. Maybe it is because she is small so she seems alert relative to her size? (It doesn't offend me just weird)
DD got that all the time and I took it as a compliment. Why is that wierd or offensive?
Post by liveintheville on Dec 19, 2012 22:22:43 GMT -5
My kids are small. But they're climbers. I constantly get parents at the park being like, "oh hey is he supposed to be on the ladder?". I"m like I swear I'm not an oblivious parent. They're older than they look and go up and down ladders all the time. Kid 2 is 2.5. He's the same size as the 15-18 month old kids :-( So I get their concern, but I get this at least weekly.
People constantly comment on his hair, cheeks, or complexion. At daycare, people see me with DS and say that he looks just like me. Then, when DH is there with DS, they say that DS looks just like him.
Honestly, the only thing that really ruffled my feathers was when people used to comment on how DS was too beautiful to be a boy. WTF? That gem came from strangers AND my own freaking mother.
Also, people try so hard to figure out where DS' curly locks come from. In Tampa, it seemed like it was people's way of asking if DS is mixed race. Here in Atlanta, apparently I throw people off and some ask me if I straighten my hair since I have a curly haired child. So very strange.
ETA: I forgot to mention that a lot of people actually have the nerve to try and touch my child's hair. I'm so serious. I have some fast reflexes but man, who does that?
This only happened once so not consistently by any means, but some random lady commented that dd had a "nice long philtrum" (the space between your nose and upper lip).
"Are they triplets?" "Oh, so you brought their friend?" "That one must look like his father because he doesn't look like you." "They are the twins? He is so much larger than his twin! I didn't realize they could be different sizes?" "Did you really need another kid that close in age to your twins?" "Why doesn't he talk?" "Why did you keep having babies when your twins had autism?" "Poor you! All three of your little ones have autism!" "Why do you have a large age gap between your oldest and your twins? " "Did you do IVF?" "It is your fault your little one as a genetic syndrome. It must be your faulty eggs because clearly it can't be my family" "When will baby number 5 be here?" I could go on and on