Matt and I have been hearing a lot of our own language parroted back at us lately. And we’re not alone. Just a few days ago a friend (the father of one of Simon’s classmates) described his daughter placing her finger-tips under his chin, lifting his chin up a bit, looking him in the eyes, and saying in a firm tone of voice:
“Look at me, Daddy. Look at me.”
I guess we know what Ms. Jill and/or Miss Judy sounds like, now! We both got a good laugh out of this.
In our house, Simon is mirroring me quite a bit. It used to be that if I did something he didn’t like, Simon would trot out the “I’m too tired”, “it’s too scary for me,” or “it’s too noisy for me” line. I still hear those excuses often. But lately I’m even more likely to hear this:
“No mommy. Don’t do that. That’s not nice.”
He’s also trying to tease me out of discipline, much as I sometimes try to tease him out of a funk. Just last night, I asked him to do something or other—I can’t remember now—and his reply was to look at me, get a certain gleam in his eye, twist his mouth into a sideways smile, and say in a particularly light tone:
“Oh, Mommy. You’re just a silly little girl.”
Nice try buddy! It won’t work, but I appreciate the finesse move.
Any day now the kid is going to count to three and wait for me to do something….