Of Parroting

Emmett adores his big sister.  This adoration is reflected in his constant emulation of her.

Last night at dinner, when the adults were brought sopapillas and she was very indignant with her lack of dessert, Micaiah demanded of our waitress, "Hey!  Where are our plates?!"  As we scolded our daughter for her rude attitude, we heard a little echo, complete with hands in a questioning gesture, "Where our play?"  The fact that he had no idea what he was asking was irrelevant to this little man.

Again, this morning, as Grandy swung the kids in the air, Micaiah demanded he swing her "higher than the sky" - which is a common request from our little dreamer.  Immediately following, Emmett ran to Grandy, hands in the air, crying, "I-er da ky!"

Someday he'll have a mind of his own, but for now his parroting is awfully cute.

Another aspect in which he has begun to take after his sister is in earning time-out through being a little too fussy for our tastes.

This evening, when he broke down while Daddy was working on dinner, Philip gave him the choice: stop crying or go to time-out (for the first time ever).  The little man toddled, as he always does when he has a destination, quickly to the front door, sitting carefully on the doormat (time-out is actually in the nearby corner, but I'm guessing he went to his default spot to which he is relegated when his sister is occupying the corner and he is keeping her company).  Philip informed him, "You can come out when you're done being sad."  Immediately, he turned off the water works, stood, and chased after Daddy.

However, he was soon crying once more, and was given the option once more.  And once more he toddled to the doormat without an argument.  This process repeated a couple of times before he began sending himself to time-out.  He would begin crying, realize what he was doing and run to the front door to sit it out, without even waiting for the option.  It was one of those moments where Mommy could not conceal the giggles.  A self-disciplining little man who isn't afraid to let his emotion flow - how adorable.

During one of his Time-Out visits: So sad, but so cute.

A couple more photos, just because I can:

I was trying to keep Joey awake after his feeding and, as usual, he wasn't having it.  Instead, he simply flopped back, content to sleep in any position he could get.

Our little guy has incredible neck muscles.