The Meowing Dog

During the past few months I've learned that the vocabulary of the second child mirrors that of the older child. So, T says things like, "Cool, mom" and "I really want...", phrases that weren't in Oo's vocabulary when she was newly two.

Naturally, T also imitates Oo's actions. Silly faces, dance moves, and jumping down from the 3rd step. (When he jumps that far, he lands on his face and my heart stops. Only one bloody nose so far!) And since Oo is always pretending to be an animal, T now does the same. Oo likes to be all sorts of animals -- lizards, monkeys, hamsters -- but she is usually a dog or cat.

T's begun to mimic this by crawling around on the floor, carrying things in his teeth, and curling up on the rug for a pretend nap. Close observation of Oo has also taught him to eat off of the floor w/o using his hands (ewww!), to lift his leg and pretend to pee (ewww!), lick my face (ewww!), growl, meow and purr. If you ask him what a dog says, he'll woof. If you ask what a cat says, he'll meow (in the same high-pitched voice that his sister uses). But when he's playing pretend, he'll bounce back and forth between animal traits, and I'm never sure if he's pretending to be a dog who meows or a cat who barks.

This week he has been taking his "acting" very seriously -- probably another lesson learned from watching Oo. He will now take a snack from me ONLY if I put it directly into his mouth. He gets really, really mad when I don't let him crawl on all fours. (Sorry little dude, but crawling on the slushy, wet driveway is NOT an option.) And sometimes he answers my questions with only barks or meows.

So if I say that I feel I'm living with a bunch of animals, it's not a comment on my children's manners so much as it is kudos to their very active imaginations. Woof! Prrrrrrr.