Who do you look like?

I spend an embarrassing amount of time studying the faces of my children trying to figure out who they look like. I've walked into rooms with Landen whereupon people we'd never met directed statements at him like "I know who you belong to!" and "You have GOT to be SSG Allbritton's child." Corey's facial features are so strong - the big dark brown eyes, the long lashes, the sharp chin and chiseled jaw - and aside from the long lashes, Landen does not have any of those. The other night in a restaurant, I looked at Jake from the side and directed Corey to take note of his jawline, and there it was.

We do not have many pictures of Corey as a child. He lost his in Hurricane Katrina. He says he was little like Jake, hyper like Jake, complex like Jake. And sadly, Jake has Corey's unruly hair. For photographic evidence, we do have these.

So then I give you these, to compare. I wish I had a goot picture of him from the side, so you could see the jawbone, which is identical to Corey's, but now I'll just have to sneak up and take one. 

Because when I give you this picture, there's no way that you can say Landen looks like his dad. Boyfriend looks just like his momma.

Landen acts just like his dad. Corey hears "Him, apple. You, tree." from me almost on a daily basis. Landen has the witty comeback, the advanced insight, the sound effect, the big joke, the overall shitass behavior his father has not managed to grow out of in 32 years of life. I cannot think of a single example for you, right now on the spot. There was one yesterday. I'll have to start writing this down. It's the personality you see in this picture: 

Although Landen is a lot more talkative and cheerful than Corey will ever admit to being. So I think in addition to looking like his mom, he may have gotten his happy outlook from her too. But he's got his dad's wiles and smart mouth.

This is the only picture we have of Corey's dad. Again, the pictures he had were flooded in the hurricane. Maybe this blog post will be a cattle call for Corey's family to send us some pics of Corey when he was little and Corey's dad. I would LOVE a picture of Corey and Brad together. I showed this picture to the boys, and Landen said "that guy looks like my dad with more hair."

He would've gotten the biggest kick out of these smart, funny, mouthy little Allbritton boys. And I think he would've loved seeing Corey being a dad.

I cannot WAIT to see what they look like at thirteen, which is when Corey said he started looking like he does not. And seventeen, which is when I fell idiotically in lurve with him. And thirty, which is how old he was when we got married.

.....