The Art of Imitation

It all started when Henry was born. It was 3 in the morning and Henry decided sleeping was not in his best interest. I would try to get him to sleep but nothing really worked. I finally resorted to the tactic of imitation. (Perhaps even at this young age he could catch on and if he did he would forever be putty in my hands.) I shut my eyes and rocked. If my eyes are shut, his must be too...wrong. I love having my head rubbed...Henry couldn't care less. So I yawned. Who can resist yawning after someone else does...Henry can.

Months later I am still trying to get this tactic to work. Although there are still the occasional naps that start with "look mommy's tired, you must be too!" "See how mommy naps...you nap too!" Only if the hypnotizing ceiling fan is on does this work. Instead of sleeping imitation, we are still trying this in the area of eating. Henry likes to hold his cheerios, not eat them. Anything and everything else will go in his mouth, anything but food. We all put O's in our fingers and say "Look Henry, like this" and put them in our mouths...Henry throws his on the floor. (As annoying as this is - it is adorable - he just looks straight at you, puts his hand out to the side and opens his little fist...plop plop... There is nothing like the sound of cheerios hitting the wood floor, it makes us smile. We don't do that while he is looking though, that is not the right time to imitate!)

Apparently I'm trying at this too hard. The other night Scott laughed as I feed Henry his veggies. Everytime the spoon would go towards Henry, I would open my mouth! Oops, he really doesn't need help with that one. Oh well, if I keep trying maybe someday my plotting will pay off.