My Life. Now In Stereo

Baboo is very much in a “mimic” phase right now. She wants to do EVERYTHING her big sister does, EXACTLY the same. Exactly.

I feel like my days are in complete repeat mode at every step. Here are some examples:

The other day, Mouse wanted to wear a tank top and shorts so she could “exercise” by running up and down the sidewalk. I was *NOT* allowed to join her, and though she did want to walk around the block by herself, to which I said an emphatic NO, I did allow her to go 3 doors up alone, while I stood in the driveway to supervise.

When Baboo got dressed, she refused to wear the outfit I had picked out. She dug through her drawers until she found a tank top dress that vaguely resembled the one Mouse was wearing. After she had it on, she said “Now I like Mouse! I’m big”. Then she got her shoes on by herself and went outside to run up and down the sidewalk, like Mouse.

Then we were at an electronics store, picking up a new cable modem as ours got pooched in a big thunderstorm we had earlier this week. It was supposed to be a quick “in and out” errand, but it ended up taking 25 minutes, all but 4 of those minutes were spent repeating times 2, the same “commands”. Mouse would stop and look at the candy on the ridiculously long checkout aisles. She’d ask if we could buy some. I’d say “not today, please come on”. We’d take 2 steps, then Baboo would stop at the exact same spot and ask the exact same thing, to which I’d reply in the exact same manner. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 20 more times, to the check out past a candy wonderland and then again on the way out past the 150 vending, gumball, and toy grabber vending machines. Baboo even stopped at the exact same spot, to peer through a wall with little holes on it, by putting her hands up to her eyes, exactly the same way Mouse had. Good grief. We made it out with everyone in one piece, but just barely.

When I brush Mouse’s hair in the morning, she’s very sensitive. She always cringes and yelps out “OW! OW! OW!” with just about every stroke, despite me spraying ½ a bottle of detangler, and combing gently. When I brush Baboo’s hair, she starts yelping out “OW! OW! OW!” before I even pick up the brush. In fact, she usually starts as soon as I spray on the detangler. One day I asked her, “Are you saying that because Mouse does?” And she said, in a tone of voice as if to imply I was an idiot “Ye-ess, Mommy. I like Mouse”. Oy. She looked at me as though I had two heads when I said “You don’t HAVE to say that. Mouse says it because it hurts, but if it doesn’t hurt you, you don’t have to say “ow”.”

It’s had no effect. Oh well.

Most of the time, it’s kind of cute when Baboo tries to mimic Mouse’s hand movements, body language and tone of voice. However, it’s not so cute when she pulls the same attitude that Mouse does. It makes me bonkers when it’s coming from one 5 year old, never mind a 2 year old trying to be a 5 year old who thinks she’s a 13 year old. Save me. The future looks grim.

So far, Mouse takes the mimicry good naturedly. She understands that Baboo just wants to be like her and is learning from the biggest girl she knows best. We’re trying to use that to our advantage by telling Mouse that if “SHE” behaves well, then it’s like that Baboo will and then we’re all winners. She’s not really buying that 100%, but we’re not giving up hope. However, it’s pretty much a guarantee that if Mouse is acting up, then Baboo will as well, in exactly the same way.

Maybe WE’LL learn the lessons better with all this repetition?