Stop Copying Me...

Ask anyone who's ever written a book on raising children. The foremost way that infants learn is by mimicking the actions of those around them. I always agreed with this theory. Then my son reach one year. All of a sudden I was thrown back to my childhood where I was yelling at my younger brother to "stop copying me." Several examples:

• Sitting in the kitchen at lunch time eating soup. I look over and my son is trying to drink the soup out of the bowl, even though we've strained just about all the broth out. I can't figure out why until I get to the end of my soup. I pick up the bowl and drink the broth.
• My son is the best at loading laundry into the dryer. He can't quite handle my jeans or our big towels. But I hand him one of his bibs or a sock, and he takes it over and puts it in the dryer. Then he's right back for more before I can get the big stuff over.
• Over the holidays, I had coffee going all the time. I drink about a pot a day during the winter. But I'm normally at work. So after 2 days of me being home, he is walking around the house Christmas morning with the travel mug Brittny got me. Then he gets a little kitchen set. Since then he's carried his own coffee cup around. He'll take a drink, then say "th-aw" like it was just what he needed to get him going.

I have concerns with this trend however. I know he's taken my love of television, especially sports. He's probably a bigger football fan than I am. He takes too big of bits at the dinner table. He eats way too much bread. He runs out into the garage in his socks. He doesn't like to sleep under the covers. What will he pick up on in the future? Will he have problems managing money? Will he not like to read? Will he not finish all 4 years of college?

My hope is that instead he'll love is mother. He'll love his family. He'll be able to work on cars. He'll be handy around the house. Of course the number one thing, HE'LL COLLECT THE GARBAGE ON THURSDAY NIGHT so I don't have to.

My prayer for myself this year, is to be more observant of the actions I take, the words I say, the ways I act. To think about what I'm doing, and decide if it is something that he should be doing. To think about what I'm NOT doing, and decide if IT is something that he should be doing. And to remember, that I have a little spongy shadow that is picking up on every move my muscles make. May he find his way through this life, and may I be a lighthouse to guide that way.