Their 3-year-old boy didn't look anything like them. Their jaws dropped when they saw a century-old photo

Has anyone ever told you how different you look from your parents? The first thought to appear in your mind may be that you are adopted, or, like elder siblings would like to say, “collected from the garbage.” This little boy named Brendan left his parents surprised when his facial features did not match either of theirs. However, the unexpected surfacing of a century-old photo satiated their curiosity, revealed in a TikTok post by Courtney DeFusco, who goes by the username @design_your_blessings.

Courtney DeFusco, married to Stephen, resides in Massachusetts with their three beautiful boys: Jackson, 7, Brendan, 3 and Harrison, 2. The couple were utterly surprised when they realized that the middle child, Brendan, did not look like any of them. Courtney said to Newsweek, “When [Brendan] was born, we knew he resembled my husband's Italian side, and not my 100 percent Irish family,” pointing at his large brown eyes, dimples and olive skin. However, despite the resemblance, “he didn't actually look like my husband," she added, “He just looked very European to us.”

A century-old, black and white, faded photo of Stephen’s great grandmother, Lucia, and her youngest twins held the key to the mystery. It showcased the uncanny resemblance of Brendan to his great uncle, Armando, who was also 3 when the picture was taken. Unfortunately, he had an untimely passing soon after. “And immediately we said, ‘that's Brendan,’” DeFusco said.

“We couldn't believe how much he looked like him. Even the way his hair falls on his face is the same,” DeFusco briefed the outlet. “I have shown Brendan the picture of Lucia and Armando and he said ‘that's me!’ He is only 3 and sees that Armando has the same face as him, so he thinks the black and white photo is him.” She asserted that she did not believe in reincarnation but the incident made her ponder.  “Armando passed away from chronic bronchitis, and Brendan was admitted for over a week at two months old for bronchiolitis,” the mother confessed.

She further spoke about how she felt a familiarity with Lilian, Armando’s mother, as she had lost a child too. Before Brendan, DeFusco gave birth to a still child, named Michael. “She must have never felt whole again after the loss of her 3-year-old,” she expressed. She was looking forward to conceiving though IVF but got pregnant naturally and had a healthy baby boy instead.

However crazy it may sound, there are children who look nothing like their parents; science and genetics have the perfect explanation for this. An article on Science ABC discusses how the dominant and recessive traits work. When a male and female gamete merge, the dominant traits become the zygote’s characteristic. But it does not mean that the recessive traits are completely lost; they are always present in the DNA. This means that we do not adopt a certain characteristic directly from our parents. However, if a recessive gene that their parents passed on to them gets passed to us, there is a chance that it may act dominantly and become our characteristic. This means, we can sometimes look more like our grandparents than our parents. In another article by Bright Side, we learn how children sometimes do not look like their parents due to factors like diet, environment, health, etc.

After watching the TikTok video, many people expressed their opinion. @drew2020_commented, “This is Armando getting one more chance at this physical world. He chose to come back and he waited patiently for you and your husband to bring him back,” while @646464.zootlane wrote, “It’s crazy how genetics work.” @flppppr expressed, “Something very beautiful about Mother Nature and how she links distant generations. Little Armando being represented 100 years later,” and @infomaniac_housewife exclaimed, “Genetics fascinate me. Thanks for sharing!”

You can follow Courtney DeFusco (@design_your_blessings) on TikTok.