"Mommydaddy, I want a story," Josiah says. "JosiahAndrew, get away from that," Mommy says. Even with only a couple of names to deal with, we still get the wrong ones sometimes. The Big People have tried calling Josiah "Gaw Gaw" and Andrew "Dai Dai" in Cantonese practice, but still get these names mixed up as well. Add to the confusion the former references to Josiah as "the little guy" and Andrew's being a big baby, there would be some slips in promoting Josiah to "big guy" status.
Somewhere in that thought process, Gilbert started referring to the boys as "the big cub" and "the little cub", which seem to have stuck. Josiah seems to enjoy the analogy to the baby animal videos he has seen, and frequently calls Andrew "little cub" as well as "Dai Dai". He usually makes the reference when generalizing, such as "No little cubs allowed", as opposed to his specific statement, "I hate Dai Dai, but I love him."
The little cub is fairly similar in his development to the big cub, particularly in his heavy weight, which has slowed increasing after he could walk (at about 1 year, somewhat later than Josiah). They also look similar, although Josiah is not fooled by old baby pictures of himself. They both like climbing and grabbing, although the little cub is a bit more inclined to rifle through drawers and try to get into the bathroom, whereas the big cub had been more of a book grabber.
Some of the differences are that the little one is a pacifier user rather than a thumb sucker; he is less picky about what he eats and has sampled big people food that his older brother still hasn't tried; he is not as happy a traveler and dislikes being in the car seat; and that he has signals that he is about to have a bowel movement, whereas the first one did not complain even afterwards. Toilet time is a big event in the Chan household, with the big cub announcing, "Grunting cub! Grunting cub!" to let everyone know what is about to happen, sometimes running ahead to the bathroom making siren sounds while one of the big people carries the little cub to the toilet and checks whether it is too late.
The little cub is also not as quick to try to get into the refrigerator as his older sibling was, and has been stripped of his fridge raiding privilege after dropping and breaking a couple of condiment jars. He does have a couple of quick moves going from two to four legs when trying to spin around a blocker to get into the bathroom. He also loves to go out the front door and, when someone puts on their shoes, will hang around by the door and try to squeeze out as soon as anyone opens it. Considering his dislike of getting strapped into the car, this anxiety to go out is puzzling unless he just wants a chance to climb to the 2nd floor before everyone else gets out. Sometimes we have to dash out the back patio door to throw out the trash so we don't have to push him back in. One of the best things about the name is how easy it is to sing. The phrase can be substituted for other words such as "muffin man", "pattycake", or "pussycat", as in:
Little cub, little cub, where have you gone?
I snuck out the front door to look at the pond.
Little cub, little cub, what did you see there?
I took me a detour and went up the stairs.