Just like mommy

Ms. L is very busy studying her role models these days. And it appears that I am her favorite subject. She began her studies in a very offhanded manner. It was so subtle at first I hardly understood what she was doing.

The first time I noticed it was when she was walking around the house tippy-toe on one foot and flat-footed with the other. After my overactive imagination went thru a million 'this child has something wrong with her' scenarios, I realized she was limping, like me. She was deliberately trying to copy my walk. My heart did a little tiny gasp and, in a rare moment of clarity, I smiled and moved on . I didn't correct her or tell her to stand up straight, I just let it be.

After the limping incident I began to notice she was doing all sort of things that I do. I was talking to her the other day and noticed my shirt was bunched and wrinkled, without even thinking about it I smoothed my shirt down and continued our conversation only to notice that she also began to smooth the 'wrinkles' on her shirt.

Almost daily she follows me into the bathroom during my morning routine. We brush our teeth together, she brushes her hair and asks (okay, sometimes she demands) to put "make-a-up" on. So, I hand her a blush brush and she goes to town whisking imaginary colors on her face. Some days she smiles so sweetly I give in and she gets a little lip balm too.

Then there was the sweetest moment of all; I was cuddling with her one evening, trying to help her settle in after a particularly long day, and I found myself curled up and tucking my hands under my cheek and chin. I looked over in time to see her peering intently at me, with those baby blue eyes, and slowly she tucks her hands under her face as well. And the sweetest look of satisfaction came over her as she sighed deeply and drifted off to sleep... a job well done.

"N-F Wohlmut you got out of bed right now!!" oh, yeah did I forget to mention that in addition to the sweet and lovely moments of imitation there are those other moments that you wish you could just sweep under the rug? Sigh... it's true, she's also mastering the hands on hip stance and that special tone of voice (some might say bossy) when trying to cajole her brother to do what she wants. At least this morning before she jumped to bossy I did hear her try a little tenderness, "rise and shine N. time to gweet the day.... N-F Wohlmut, you get out of bed right now!"

And they same imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

"If the second one had been the first one there would never have been a second one."

"L, what are you doing?"

"Color da wall."

"Please don’t color the wall, crayons belong on the paper"

"Color da floor"

"No L, if you can’t keep the crayons on the paper I’ll take the crayons away"

"Color da chair"

"Okay, L time to put the crayons away"

"NOOOOO" and with arms like moving windmills she sends crayons flying around the kitchen. N and I must duck and take cover. A granny smith apple green narrowly misses my head while tickle me pink bounces off the chair and into a bowl of cheerios. I belly crawl across the kitchen floor with as the colorful missiles continue to fly around my head. I reach the launching pad and manage to stop the assault. When I finally look at Miss L, I see nothing but those big blue eyes and an impish grin. While biting the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing out loud, I tell her to pick up the crayons, not expecting but, hoping for full compliance. Instead she dashes to the end of the hallway and announces, "gonna get a timeout" and sits herself right down. Then right on cue begins to cry quietly, and indignantly so I can see it's for real.

Just as I am about to fetch her from her self imposed exile N (sensing a golden opportunity to erase what few memories are left from his ‘terrible-twos") executes a brilliant play and says, "Don’t worry Mama, it’s okay. I’ll pick up the crayons". And for good measure he pats me on the back.

And in this moment I see the next 15 years played out over and over again in my mind.