Is This How She Sees Me?

Kami does this all the time. She loads her arms full of stuff, puts on my shoes, grabs a purse, and proudly announces that she's "going bye-bye." I always think it's cute. I like to just watch her. Then the other day, I realized that I'm watching her watch me.

She's imitating what she has seen me do a thousand times. She has watched me load my arms full of stuff, put on my shoes, grab my purse and announce that we're "going bye-bye." And yes, I do say "bye-bye."

I laugh because she always has a baby doll - this must represent her. There's always a blanket - because all good moms want to make sure their babies are warm and comfortable (never mind the fact that her baby is naked as a jaybird). She always has her giraffe that she lovingly refers to as "baby" - I hope it's because she knows that I care about what she cares about. She always has my shoes on - I know she's seen me try on a few before leaving the house because no matter where I'm going - I DO like to look presentable. There's always a bag of some sort involved. The girl knows what to do with a purse and that all good women have plenty of them though the men in their lives think it's totally pointless. And just recently, there has been a new addition: the coffee cup. She put my empty mug in the purse. A while back, I let her try my coffee. I was surprised when she actually liked it and now she insists on tasting it whenever I have it. That's one reason I try to only have coffee at nap time! Anyway, I suppose she thinks that if Mommy's going bye-bye, she needs her energy.

I know this is a normal thing. Kids watch us. Even when we don't think they're paying attention, they are. In the rush of trying to get the kids out the door so that I'm not the constant tardy one, they're watching me. I just hope that throughout my life, she will continue to see things in me that she wants to imitate. It makes me realize that she could also pick up on negative things and I hope that this realization helps me watch myself. But in general, it makes me feel good that she likes me enough to watch me and copy what she sees me do.

Is this how she sees me? I hope so, because so far, I gather that as long as she's got what she needs and we're occasionally getting out of the house, I must be doing OK.