Monkey See Monkey Do

It's been interesting, as Noah works his way through the usual milestones this past year, to watch and see how differently he approaches things and how he's achieved various skills in a different order and on a totally different time line than his sister. He's done a lot of things later than Bree did, rolling over, crawling, walking... But, in trying to keep up with a big sister, he's also done many things much sooner than I seem to remember Bree doing. Take coloring for example, at 15 months old he loves to color.

I don't think Brianna was even starting to want to pick up crayons and markers at this age.


And it's pretty cute to see the two of them playing together in this way, although, a bit surreal they're at this stage already.

If you notice, they're using those wonderful Color Wonder markers, the kind that only work on special paper. This is because Noah's interest in coloring on things extends beyond the page and onto the walls, and the floor and just about anything else. And so far, I haven't been able to get across that we only color on paper, hence the special markers.

Actually, now that he's walking, and therefore better able to keep up with his sister, he's all about the copycatting. Yep, he wants to do everything he sees Bree doing. Everything. So there they'll be, in a rascally mood, and instead of just one kid head-butting the cat or deciding to empty a whole cereal box onto the floor, I'll have two. This goes both ways though, since Bree often has a blast imitating her brother as well, reverting back to her inner toddler.

Of course, Noah's monkey see monkey do attitude extends to his parents as well. Which means you can find him handing clean dishes to Mom (yes, I'm enjoying that while I can), or being helpful in some other way. You can also see Mom and Dad's influence in Noah's dance moves. Now that he's up on his feet he loves to groove a beat, copying his parents' best moves. (I've always thought that kids' behavior is a little too revealing about their parents in those type situations. That and when they start repeating some of the embarrassing things you say.) But then, you know what they say about mimicry, best form of flattery and all that.

The newest and perhaps the most interesting behavior Noah's been imitating comes from me though. I've already talked about this a bit, but you see, lately I've had sort of a fixation with painting my walls. We've lived in this house around 18 months now and I'm determined not to have a white wall left. I'm fundamentally against white walls. This means that I've been doing a lot of holding paint chips against the wall and squinting. A lot. Apparently I've done this so much that Noah's picked up on it. So, whenever he comes across a paint chip he immediately holds it up against the wall! Perhaps Mommy's been a bit overly obsessed with this project?

While Noah has been watching and copying the other members of his family he still has a personality all his own. He's adding new words to his vocabulary, like peeking around things and going "Boo!" or pointing his little finger at people and saying "Don't!" (Rascal!) He also charms his mom by giving out hugs and kisses quite freely. And he already has some little personality quirks as well. My favorite one? The kid loves socks! It's kind of odd but he just loves to wear socks. Maybe he likes toasty toes but when he sees a pair of socks he smiles and sticks his feet out obligingly. He's just one fun and charming little guy.