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So, I think I'm going to read another parenting book.

Wait! Before you tell me that I'd be better off sticking a nail file up my nose, let me explain. I just read an essay by this woman, and did not fling the magazine containing said essay across the room in disgust. In fact, I said, "Hmm. That is a topic that I've often thought about. I would not object to reading more of her work."

Here is the essay...oh wait, that's not all of it. Well, here's the essay's introduction, then. Sorry.

And this is, indeed, a topic that I've often thought about. Or, at least, I've often wondered whether people think the boys are adopted. I am about as white as you can get; my larger veins, in fact, are quite visible through my skin. True story: during the days of retail and slightly less tequila, a coworker said one day, "Hey, you have some blue crayon or marker on your face!" I went into the restroom to investigate, since it wasn't like I carried a pack of Crayolas around the store with me, came back out, and said, "Jenn. That's a vein. I don't think I'll wash it off." And she was just entranced, saying, "That's your VEIN? Really? I've never SEEN a person with such prominent veins!" She rattled on in that (oh no) vein (sorry) until I felt like a circus freak. Fortunately, that was before I wore glasses; now, my glasses cover up the most prominent vein, and no one has told me to wash the marker off my face in years. Or maybe I just work with people whose brain-to-mouth filters are in better operational order.

Anyway. I have brown hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin that sunburns easily. Dragon is half Filipino, with black hair, brown eyes, and a tan (but during his baby and toddler years, his skin was paler). And the boys are tiny little copies of him; the resemblances are eerie. Action Hero looks just like Boy Wonder did at the same age (he wears a lot of hand-me-downs, so pictures are extra-eerie). Boy Wonder looks just like Dragon's baby and kid pictures. Clearly, they are all related.

I seem to run across people with better manners, though, because no one has ever asked me the question that spurs the author's essay. Have they assumed my kids are of a particular ethnicity? Sure. Boy Wonder has been greeted in Spanish on a few occasions, and I think in Chinese a couple of times. He was even recognized as Filipino once. At the hospital where he was born, the nurses and techs on the maternity floor would go see the babies in the nursery, so they could chat with the new mothers about the new babies, and one of my techs was Filipino. She was utterly delighted about the fact that Boy Wonder was, too, and brought me all sorts of extra stuff--I got piles of graham crackers and little cartons of grape juice, and left the hospital with two free diaper bags.

Perhaps I have an aura that says, "Keep the obnoxious commentary to yourself." Many women write about total!strangers! asking to touch their pregnant bellies, and that never happened to me. So far, no one has criticized my kids' behavior in stores, restaurants, or other public venues (although now that Boy Wonder is ridiculously verbal and amazingly contrary, and is accompanied by a vocal toddler who likes to climb, I'm sure our day is coming). Instead of, "Such beautiful children! Where did you get them?" I get, "Such beautiful children! And your husband must be...Latino? Or Asian?" I suppose even that could be considered rude, in a way; it's still saying, "Tell me about your child's ethnic background!" Which is not necessarily anyone else's business. When in doubt, say, "What a cute child! You must be very proud."

At any rate...where did my point go, again? I'll let you know after I read a couple of this author's books. Somehow, I think I'll find them more enjoyable than I found the other ones...

*(I do have an essay topic of my own, though; someday, I'll write one called, "No, They're Both Boys." Remember that black hair? The boys have lots of it, and always have. Apparently, people are not used to seeing boy babies with hair, because I have gotten, "Oh, what a lovely little one! Look at the smile on her!" more than once. Not about Boy Wonder now, of course. But once, when he was a baby, a woman and her daughter, in front of us in the grocery store line, held a lengthy conversation in which they tried to decide just how to phrase their cute-baby compliment. And Action Hero has certainly gotten his share of "Oh, she's adorable!" comments. I've never quite understood it; sure, the boys have more hair than many grown men do, and Action Hero's curls rather charmingly, but their clothes are plastered with trucks, dinosaurs, and Spiderman. They've always looked boyish to me.)