Baby See, Baby Do

In a flash of brilliance, Babykins has suddenly become an excellent mimic!  In the past two weeks, she has started to copy the grownups around her, leading me to be both very excited and much more cautious about the things we say and do.

It started last week when Grandmakins touched her nose, then touched Babykins' nose.  Babykins repeated the actions (although her "nose" can apparently be found almost anywhere between her eye and her chin).  Then this weekend, I picked up Babykins' toy phone, made it ring, and held it out to Babykins, saying kitty wanted to talk to her.  Normally, Babykins thinks this is just a game of pass the phone back and forth.  This time, though, she took the phone, pushed the buttons, held it up to her ear, and said, "Olo, olo."  I thought it was just a fluke, but later in the day as I washed dishes, Babykins sat happily in the living room making the phone ring, putting it to her ear, and saying, "Olo, olo!"

These were both very exciting accomplishments, but the best moment came this morning.  Hubbykins was leaving for work and blew Babykins a kiss as he opened the door to leave.  Suddenly, we hear Babykins give a big "smack" with her lips.  She had blown Hubbykins a kiss in return!  We both squealed in excitement (is there a more manly word for squealing?).  I can't wait to see what Babykins learns to do next.

Mwah!

Two months ago, we were having lunch with friends who have a 1-year-old and the mom said to the little girl, "Give me a kiss."  She leaned over and the baby gave her a big kiss on the cheek.  I was so jealous!

A few weeks later, as we were reading a bedtime story, Babykins leaned over and put her face to the book.  I wasn't sure what she was doing, but every time we read that book (which has a picture of a little girl with blonde curls) Babykins would lean in and put her face on the girl.  I finally realized she was giving the little girl kisses!  Over the next few days, Babykins started kissing more and more of the characters in her books (although she wasn't indiscriminate - some characters were apparently not worthy of her cute baby kisses). 

Finally, about 2 weeks ago, Babykins crawled over to where I was lying on the floor, put her head right above mine, opened her mouth wide, and planted a big, gooey kiss on my cheek.  It was fabulous!  I laughed and clapped, which of course made Babykins want to do it again.  By the end of our kissing session, my face was covered in drool, but it was the most wonderful drool ever.

Then yesterday, I was sitting next to Babykins on the floor and I pointed to my cheek, saying, "Give Mama a kiss."  Babykins smiled, leaned over, and planed a big, sloppy baby kiss on my cheek!  After a week of colds and teething, this was such an unexpected surprise that it quickly became my new favorite game.  Babykins tired of it after a few times and crawled off, but I kept the warm glow for the rest of the day.