copycats

kids just love to imitate adults/their parents & does exactly what we do. i'm sure you've experienced it with your own child/children or nieces/nephews. it's cute that the lil ones can mimic us so well that at times it's hard not to laugh. an example of that would be my 5-year-old giving his lil bro his own set of instructions of how things should be done, sounding more like an adult.

in the backyard doing a bit of fun washing...
big bro:
di di, go get the brush! (an calls his lil bro, di di, meaning younger bro in mandarin)
di di:
(dutifully goes to the sink which is still quite high for him, standing on tiptoe, struggles to grab one of the brushes used for multi-purpose cleaning from an old rectangular cutlery container)
big bro:
(using the brush on his tricycle) di di, go get water!
di di:
(again he dutifully goes to the sink to fill a round container with water, soon after splashing the tricycle with it)
big bro:
di di, not like that! get some more water!
di di:
(by now he does his own thing, totally ignoring his big bro's orders)
big bro:
(continues with his demand) di di, bring me the oil tanker, i want to wash it. it's dirty.
it's fun watching them play "wash up", copying what hubs & i'd normally do when washing the car.

but what happens when children emulate the actions of their parents to perfection? han loves helping me with the laundry as early as the days he was able to stand on his own two feet. he'd drag/pull the laundry basket out to the back, take the small plastic chair by the side of the front loading washing machine, then having seated comfortably on it he puts the clothes carefully through the big porthole & into the washing drum.

mom & i were busy talking one of the mornings while i was just standing outside the door near the washing machine. han, like a gentleman, helped me with the laundry by doing all of the above. he'd usually stop once he has finished putting all the clothes in & having closed the door of the washing machine. mom & i continued on with out chit chat oblivious to what han was doing next cos most of the time he'd entertain himself by riding the tricycle. when i turned to look at where he was minutes later, he was standing quietly on the small plastic chair with an opened but empty bottle of fabric softener in his right hand. the detergent dispenser was sticking out & that was the first thing i checked. not much was to be seen in there. i quickly call out to mom to confirm that the bottle of 2 litre fabric softener was indeed empty & she said, 'no, there's still three-quarter of it left.' han had taken a step further that morning by imitating the way i pour the fabric softener into the detergent dispenser. i explained to him that he wasn't to do that again & only mommy with big hands can do such things. anyway, the laundry for that day came out smelling stronger than usual!

han @ 15 months