Isaac has never been a big one for copying us. This used to worry me in the beginning (everything used to worry me in the beginning). The baby books say stuff like, stick out your tongue or raise your eyebrows, and even a mere weeks-old baby can imitate you! Or, make a series of babbling sounds and listen as your baby copies you! Isaac never did anything like that. I even asked the pediatrician about it when Isaac was about six months old. He sat down on a little stool in front of Isaac, looked him right in the eye, and said, "Hi, Isaac!" Isaac watched him sit, looked right back at him, and smiled. The pediatrician said, "He's fine. He's completely tuned in to other people."
As time has passed, Isaac seems more influenced by our behaviors than he had been: he sometimes pretends to chew when he sees me eating, for example, and he's been known to drum on the table after observing Joel doing so. Tonight, however, he performed a bit of imitative play that surprised me. I found it touching.
Isaac was chewing on the corner of his blankie as we sat down to nurse before bed, and he pulled it out of his mouth and offered it to me. I opened my mouth and he stuck the blanket right in. I gave it a few exaggerated chomps and he laughed. He put it back in his mouth, chewed it briefly, and then crammed it into my mouth. Again he laughed. I could see the excitement on his face as his brain made the connection: Isaac's mouth, Mama's mouth ... separate but the same ... wow!
Repeat about ten times, except that as Isaac got more and more worked up he lost dexterity, so all too soon he was missing my mouth and pressing a damp blanket against my cheek, and at the end he dropped the blanket and was just shoving his fingers in my mouth and giggling.
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