I regularly get comments about how the boys are “clones” of Dave. It’s not that I’m against that notion; after all, I like Dave well enough to marry him, so the idea that my sons take after him is definitely not a bad thing.

That said, I do feel as though I am grasping at straws sometimes to identify ways they are also like me. So far the list includes: O has my more adventurous dining palate, the 3 older boys have my blue eyes, and all 4 of us behave like small children with poor executive function when we’re frustrated by something inconsequential and inanimate.

However! We can add one more to the list today:

Around 6:15, J appeared next to my bed, and his proximity to my face woke me up in a quasi-startling fashion. Mind you: I have not slept a night through in many weeks now, so the idea of having my sleep interrupted by anyone other than the infant relying on me for sustenance is… pretty offensive. Fortunately for J, in my sleepy stupor, I was too tired to react other than to mutter some question about what he was doing.

J (softly): Mom, I just saw the most beautiful sunrise.

Me (shameless sucker for a sunrise): you did?

J: yeah, it was orange and yellow. It was so beautiful, Mom.

Normally this would be the moment where I’d jump out of bed and head outside to view it myself. But I repeat: it has been weeks of interrupted sleep. I did a quick mental calculation: I know the saying that “tomorrow is never promised” and therefore I should “seize the day” and behold the beauty of the sunrise. But if for some reason the apocalypse happens and there is, in fact, no sunrise tomorrow, the extra sleep in the wee hours of this morning will surely serve me better than a memorable vista.

Instead, I unlocked my phone and mumbled a request for J to take a picture for me.

He came back shortly afterwards with 2 shots of the sunrise: one “through the shades” and one “through the window.”

He may walk like his dad, talk like his dad, and certainly have a penchant for mental math like his dad, but that uncontainable excitement and appreciation for a sunrise hours before it’s polite to rouse anyone else in the house?? That is all me.