Monkey See, Monkey Do

Coralyn is very good at mimicking and also quite attentive, so sees (and hears) everything I do. And then copies my actions (and words at times).

Some things that Coralyn has done recently that reflect what she must see me doing include:

*taking a burp rag (that we now use for blowing her nose) and wiping down the floorboards

*spreading her toes apart and trying to remove the sock link and invisible specks of dirt (One night I noticed she had stuff between her toes and went toe by toe to get it all out. Ever since then, she has been very faithful to make sure her toes are lint and dirt free! I would almost say she is obsessed with this ritual.)

*using a spoon to stir the imaginary ingredients in her bowl

*blowing her nose in a kleenex or toilet paper

*attempting to wipe after she has gone to the bathroom

*throwing things away in the trash

*opening her drawers and putting her clothes away

*trying to give Bennett (11 months) his bottle or sippy cup

*playing with my hair (that was the best this morning as she actually let me sit and rock her for a bit while we waited for Carson to arrive)

*raising her feet up to put her pants on like Carson does

*doing her best to get her socks and shoes on her feet

*grabbing her coat when it's time to go outside

*holding the remote and pointing it at the TV and pressing buttons

*pushing buttons on her cell phone and then having a conversation as she holds the phone up to her ear (we kept Lawrence's when we got new phones so she could have one to play with without running up our bill)

*taking pictures with her toy camera and saying, "Cheese" as she does

*pressing buttons on the keyboard

*rubbing her hands together when we talk about washing our hands before we eat

*brushing her teeth

*bowing her head to pray

*doing her best to put the keys in the door

*putting the key to her toy car in the ignition spot and turning it, then making vroom sounds

*writing on paper

Like I said, Coralyn is quite the copycat. I enjoy watching her do all these things, but it is also kind of scary to think that she not only sees (and hears) what I do, but imitates me. Oh, how I pray that I can say as Paul did that people would imitate me as I imitate Christ. My heart's desire is certainly for Coralyn to see my relationship with Jesus and to want that for herself.

At least I know that I have a little monkey on my hands. And it's definitely a monkey see, monkey do world in the Young house.

Well, I had better go check on my little monkey before she turns our house into a jungle!