Cade's Mini-Me

As the youngest (and up until now, least vocal) child, Joshie doesn't seem to get as much blog billing as the other boys. But I have a feeling that is seriously about to change.

Physically, Josh has been Cade's mini-me from very early on. Early baby photos are pretty much indistinguishable and it looks like it's gonna stay that way.

Interestingly enough, it's starting to look like they're going to have very similar personalities as well, save for the fact that Josh is a much more mellow kid than Cade ever was. But now that Josh is officially on the move (he started crawling about a month ago)and able to express preferences by crawling away from things or slapping them out of your hand, we're experiencing a little bit of dejavu. For example:

-Josh has no use for baby toys. Zilch. He is not fooled by the authentic-looking Parents toys key chain and he will let you know (loudly, with fists clenched, Cade-style) that he prefers the real ones. Blocks? No, thank you. Shape sorter? Are you kidding me? Please pass the markers (NOT crayons!) and the Hot Wheels.

-He is single minded in his focus. If he is trying to crawl across the yard and into the street than he will do it, by God, and no amount throwing toys in his path or redirecting him is going to distract him from his goal. The only thing that will stop him is when you carry him away (howling, fists clenched) inside.

-He has a strong preference for electronics and moving parts. His latest fascination is bike wheels. We got sick of peeling him off his brother's bikes for fear he would fall during outside play time, so when not in use, we tipped them on their sides. This is OK with him - he is content to spend countless minutes spinning the bike wheel first in one direction, then the other, mesmerized by the motion. If no bike wheels are available, he will settle for a cellphone, a calculator, a cordless phone, a TV remote, or some equally age-inappropriate contraption.

-He has no fear. If we're at the pool, he wants to be "jumping" off the side or splashed, preferably in the face. Crawling across the driveway? C'mon - make sure there's some acorns for him to crawl over and scrape his knees on - where's the challenge in concrete? Sitting on the sofa is for pansies. He prefers to scale it, crawl right off the edge, and dangle by a toe from the coffee table.

Yep, the two are so much alike that we often find ourselves wondering how we ended up with the genetic anomaly that is Drew. I once jokingly suggested to Aaron that it would be fun to keep having kids as a little statistical experiment - just to see all the variations of children we could produce.

Yeah, he didn't think that was funny either.