James Van Der Beek can't tell which one of his children is in this baby photo, and you know what? It's totally understandable.
James and his wife, Kimberly, welcomed their youngest child in 2018. They're at a total of five kids now — four daughters and one son.
James shares a lot of his #DadLife moments on Instagram, and in 2019, he came across a photo of himself holding a baby in his arms. It's a CUTE photo, so naturally, he had to share it on the 'gram. The only problem? He has no idea which baby is in the photo.
"Came across this pic today," James captioned the photo. "If I’m being completely honest… I have no idea which kid this is. But reasonably sure it’s mine."
To be fair, all of James' kids look very much alike. Other parents of multiple kids can definitely relate.
James Van Der Beek doesn't need much of an introduction. He rose to fame as Dawson on Dawson's Creek and currently stars on the FX's groundbreaking series Pose.
James has been married to business consultant Kimberly since 2010. The two share five children together: Olivia, 8; Joshua, 7; Annabel, 5; Emilia, 3; and Gwendolyn, 9 months.
It's a full house, and James and Kimberly wouldn't have it any other way.
James is a devoted father — in one Instagram post he described how he has "enjoyed the privilege of making smoothies I know my older kids will like, making my wife red raspberry leaf tea to ease her uterine contractions, spending 'boy time' with my son and getting my two-year-old down for a nap in the way only I know how."
But with five kids in eight years, James has a problem that anyone with that many kids will deeply relate to — he can't always identify his own kids in baby photos!
Recently, James found an old photo of himself holding a baby in his arms.
"Came across this pic today," he wrote. "If I'm being completely honest… I have no idea which kid this is. But reasonably sure it's mine."
Amazingly, Kimberly couldn't tell which baby was in the photo either.
"Who is that?!! I'd say Gwen but judging by your hair it's Emilia … or Olivia …?" she wrote in the comments.
The two went back and forth in an attempt to figure it out. They probably guessed all five kids at one point or another.
Eventually, James just checked the date on the photo to figure it out once and for all.
"If it’s correct (and not the date it was imported or screen-grabbed) … this is Annabel," he wrote.
Mystery solved?
Other parents totally understood where James and Kimberly were coming from.
Sometimes you have to use other clues from the photo to figure out which baby it is.
Like your own appearance, or which house is in the background of the photo. Hey, whatever works!
While you might assume that this problem is reserved for parents with a lot of children, it somehow also occurs to parents with one kid. Maybe we can chalk this up to Mom Brain/Dad Brain.
It's the same forgetfulness that causes parents to forget their own kids' names and/or call one kid by another kid's name.
Is there any parent who doesn't do that?
It's fine, because kids (probably) don't take it personally. James is obviously an awesome dad, and he has a great sense of humor about it!
You got this, James.
