Their eyes! Heterochromia to be specific.
People keep asking me about Sully's eyes, so here ya go. The story thus far.
The first day Sully was born we noticed, to our surprise, that he had blue eyes that were different in shades. I know most babies are born with a variation of blue/gray eyes that eventually change color - but being two brown eyed parents, (my mom and both of Shaun's parents all have brown eyes, my dad being the only blue eyed in our family) we assumed Sully would come out with the same.
We noticed almost immediately that his right eye changed to a dark brown, within days. But again, to our surprise, his left eye stayed blue - really really blue. As a newborn he was dubbed with the nickname "Husky" due to the drastic eye difference. I was a little freaked out at first, okay so a lot freaked out mainly because I know its not normal for a baby to have two completely different eye colors - and we had no idea what it was from. I had fears that it may have some effects on his vision in the long run. The doctors let us know that sometimes it can be related to deafness, but since he hears just fine, that more than likely its just a genetic quirk that was hereditary. We were also told that his eye could change color over time.
We think that what he has is called heterochromia and it occurs in about 2% of births. Pretty cool huh? Its just easier to give the wikipedia explanation than to try and do it myself.
In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris but also of hair or skin. Heterochromia is a result of the relative excess or lack of melanin (a pigment). It may be inherited, due to genetic mosaicism, or due to disease or injury.[1]
Eye color, specifically the color of the irises, is determined primarily by the concentration and distribution of melanin.[2][3][4] The affected eye may be hyperpigmented (hyperchromic) or hypopigmented (hypochromic).[5] In humans, usually, an excess of melanin indicates hyperplasia of the iris tissues, whereas a lack of melanin indicates hypoplasia.
Heterochromia of the eye (heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridum) is of two kinds. In complete heterochromia, one iris is a different color from the other. In partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia, part of one iris is a different color from its remainder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeterochromiaBecause Sully's form is hereditary, we knew it had to come from on of us, probably me since my dad is a blue eye gene carrier, and my whole family of Otwells on my dad's side are blue eyed. (Fun fact: My sister and I are the only brown eyed grandchildren on that side.) But in reality it was still just a guess.
I keep in touch with one of my aunts (my dad's sister) through email, sending her pictures and updates of where Sully is at, what he is now doing etc etc etc. I was explaining in one of my emails about his eyes, and sent her a picture where you could really see the difference. She wrote back that she too has a from of what sounds like partial heterochromia. She said that as a little girl it was a lot more noticeable, but one of her eyes had a brown spot in the blue. Go figure, I guess he really does get it from the Otwell side. And here we were just assuming. Apparently my dad's side really is a carrier of the gene - who would have thought?
His left eye has started to change - and it goes from a gray blue to a green hazel depending on what day of the week it is. We don't think they'll ever be the same color, more than likely a brown and a hazel. Its less noticeable when you're looking at him these days, but when you know what you're looking for, you can really see it, especially in pictures because of the light. My favorite question people ask is what color his eyes are, and when I tell them they're two different colors and they look, their first response is always "Oh my god! They ARE two different colors!"
Its kind of funny to think back now about how freaked out I was about them at first. Now, I absolutely adore the fact that they're different and hope they stay that way. I think it just adds to the uniqueness that already is Sully - just one more layer to this complex little soul we're learning about every day. It'll be fun to see when he hits school aged what color he makes his eyes in pictures of himself.
Here are some kind of good pictures of his eyes - I'm in the works of getting a new one that is close up, if the child would sit still long enough.
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