Like Mother, Like Daughter

Olivia may not look much like me, but she is definitely my child. Sometimes she says things and I feel like I'm listening to myself. I've noticed we both use "otherwise" quite a bit. Olivia also breastfeeds her baby doll. The doll sleeps in Olivia's bed or in a crib nearby. She also has a sling to carry her baby.

She sees lots of candy and cereal at the store that she wants me to buy. Sometimes it's something I don't mind getting, but more often than not I have to tell her "that has lots of artificial flavors and colors in it." The other day I heard her ask my parents if their bread had articifial flavors and colors in it. I couldn't help laughing!

We had to replace our shower recently because it was leaking. My husband took the pieces of the old one outside and was wondering what to do with them. Olivia told him he should recycle them.

Like me (and her daddy), Olivia loves books. For the past couple of years we've been going to the library almost every week and checking out around 8 to 15 books. Saturday I checked out about a dozen for her. We returned close to half of them this evening because we'd already read them several times (in just 3 days!). I remember one day (a while ago) Olivia was supposed to be taking a nap. I went to check on her and she had fallen asleep in a pile of books. There were probably a dozen on her bed and on the floor. I went straight to the living room and told hubby she is definitely our child and sent him to have a look. Then I took a picture. I've got it around here somewhere...

For better or worse, kids are sponges that soak up our speech and behaviors. We would do well to remember this. I want my children to grow up thinking breastfeeding is normal. I want recycling to be second nature to them. I want them to love books and learning. I want them to be patient with and kind to others. It will be much easier to teach them these values (and others) if I practice them myself.