CoveyOfCockneys

GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms.

For today’s episode I’ve decided to leave the “Old Time Stories” and concentrate on the latest addition to my family, who must surely be included in this Covey by way of his genes.  After all, we are all GMO so he has to have a few Cockney genes.

Especially when you consider the work of Gregor Mendel; not to bore you with his principles of inheritance but to bring it down to its lowest common denominator it seems that a gene can skip a generation then appear later with all its bells and whistles intact. And those cockney genes all have lots of bells and whistles attached.

Yes, I now have a great-grandson – what a hoot!

I’m sure he has arrived with all his own characteristics and he will be loved for every one of them, but if we pay a little homage to Mendel, it’s possible he will also have a few personality traits for which he can thank his forebears.  So, heeding the Boy Scouts motto to “Be Prepared” I thought it might be useful to mention a few of those traits that may or may not appear, and since none of us can recall with accuracy what we were like as a child, it is left to me to mention a few of the traits of his lineages: my offspring.

Well, progeny number one has to be my first born.  He was the delight of my life; strong, healthy and full of vigor. He bellowed for his food and insisted on being the centre of everyone’s attention. He was as smart as could be and soon learned to do all manner of physical activities. I’m sure he was only two or three years old when his father had him out on ice skates!  He was inquisitive and willing to attempt anything.  So, it was a sad day when he came home from kindergarten crying.  

It seems that the class was learning to skip (you know the kind without a rope, just kind of hopping along) and it was the one thing that beat him – no matter how hard he tried: he couldn’t skip. 

I don’t know if he can skip today (I’ve never asked him) but it might be a gene worth looking out for!

Progeny number two was daughter number one.  She was a very special, special child for many reasons. Not the least of which were her linguistic skills.  I can remember, when she was a toddler, walking around the grocery store with her sitting in the buggy-cart-seat as she was merrily chatting away with me.  Nothing unusual about that you may say!  True. Except that she was using long three syllable words and complicated sentences.  Personally, I didn’t notice it – but other shoppers did, they would stop and remark on it. 

It was a bit like the nurses who a couple of years later would think it cute that this little child who still sucked a soother, had brought an analog watch with her to the hospital 

– that was until they realised she used it to tell the time. 

Oh yes, she also had a pack of playing cards so that she could play solitaire!  My guess is that no one would turn down a few of those “smart genes”.

The third entrant into this gene pool is daughter number two.  The calmest most happy baby anyone could wish for. 

Any mother who gets a baby with these genes has won the lottery.  These genes come with a bit of a warning though.  At the age of two years, those calm-laid-back-nothing-bothers-me genes suddenly burst out of the starting gate like a whirling dervish on steroids.  

Nothing, I mean nothing, is going to hold this child back.  Run away from home at the age of three, hitch a ride on a bus – no problem!  Listen to me, do as she was told – not a chance.  However, things weren’t all strife and trouble, there were some absolutely delightful moments, especially when her logical genes came to the fore.  I remember the time when I was bathing her and I asked her big brother to “bring up the towels” from downstairs. 

She adamantly refused to be dried on towels that she reasoned had been regurgitated!  Obviously, who could blame her! 

There was another time when she had a very nasty cold that this logical thinking came roaring out.  When told to avoid giving these germs to anyone else she immediately went against all instructions.  Her attempts at cuddling up to and kissing anyone who would allow her near were clearly obvious.  Those logical genes had rightly of wrongly figured out that if she had a toy then gave it away, she would no longer have it. Certainly, it was worth a try with this cold she did not want.

To be honest it was a tremendous relief when she was old enough for kindergarten, so perhaps I can be forgiven for my answer to her teacher’s inquiry: “Give me one word to describe your daughter”.  My reply was “stubborn”, it should have been “determined” a trait that has stood her well throughout her life. So, for a logical, determined go-getter, these genes are prime.

Therefore, the future for my latest descendant looks pretty marvelous as far as the gene pool is concerned.  Welcome to the tribe.