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My Little Mini-Me

Does anybody else have one child who is a near carbon-copy of themselves? My little mini-me is my almost-ten-year-old son. Since he was a baby, he has physically resembled me ... except his gender, of course, and his eye color (I share that with my youngest). In most other ways, though, my eldest child and I are very much alike.

I taught at a junior high school parttime when this child was three and four years old. Even then, our resemblances were striking. The custodian at this school would always ask me, "Where's your twin?" talking about my toddler boy.

I also learned early on that we shared an emotional tie as well. His personality, quirks, and tendency to have overwhelming emotional moments ... that's all me. Isn't that crazy? Who knew the DNA strands that would replicate in our offspring?

We are both book addicts (to the point that it's sometimes debilitating), highly emotional, forgetful, and math-phobic. In fact, it is eerie to me to watch this male child replicate my elementary school life! He's so ... me!

We're alike on the sports field as well. As an athlete, I'm a little flighty with just a touch of klutz. He's more coordinated than I am, but just as spacey when it comes to competition. He's tried lots of different things ... tee-ball, baseball, soccer, basketball ... but really enjoyed visiting with teammates more than actually playing the sport with them. Yes, my child was the one picking flowers and chasing butterflies in the outfield!

Another quirk we share is an anti-competitive streak. I was never interested in any kind of sports competition as a kid and became very nervous when asked to compete in any form ... math board races, spelling bees, kickball, board games, you name it. He is very much the same -- multiplied by about a billion. He is truly competition-averse, but we're working on it, one win/lose game at a time.

Today, I was reminded (again!) of our endless similarities. We were in the car listening to a song by Lee Ann Womack titled "There is a God." She is singing about the things that remind her that there is a God, including "Find the heartbeat on your baby's ultrasound ..." which brought me to tears. After he handed me a tissue, my sweet son said, "Mom, why does this song make you cry?" By the time I finished explaining the preciousness of life and how amazing I felt the first time I heard his little heartbeat and realized for the first time that I would be a real Mommy and he was a real little person and that I would love and adore him for the rest of my life ... he was teary too! LOVE that kid! My little mini-me.

I looked up the song on YouTube and posted this video here ... enjoy our emotional moment with us!


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