Monkey See, Monkey Do

We've all heard the phrase, but have we actually taken it to heart? I was reminded of this last night when myself, Michael (the rambunctious two year old that this blog centers around), and Andrea (his mom) were at the neighbor's house. Our neighbors have two boys several years older than Michael. One is also named Michael, and his brother is Matthew. Unfortunately for Michael, both boys were at a birthday party and were unavailable to play. Michael was invited to play with the boys' cars and trucks anyway. The neighbors have a large carpet piece that has roads weaving on it for playing with cars. Michael started organizing the cars into a long line, which created quite a traffic jam. He then decided he had to move a small desk lamp to exactly the right place near the front of the carpet. At first, Andrea told him not to move the lamp, but then realized that was exactly how Matthew plays with the cars. It just emphasized to me how much like a sponge children are with everything, and not just their parents. Michael remembered exactly how things needed to be, even though the boys weren't there to play with him. It really causes me to rethink how I do some things when I realize even I have a tremendous influence on such a young mind.