Will They Copy Good Habits, Too?

Dayton has been mimicking us for a long time now, but he's starting to mimic our behaviors in areas that we maybe did not want or need to be mimicked. Some examples...


1. Contacts
When Dayton sees Daddy putting in his contacts in the morning, Dayton insists on doing contacts as well. He plunges his finger into Daddy's small contacts case and rubs the solution in his (closed) eye. Then he does the other finger and the other eye. This is not necessarily a bad thing to copy; it just shows that he's choosing weird things to mimic.

2. Too close to the TV
When Dayton watches a show, we tell him that he's too close if he stands in front of the TV. He has to back up, or sit on the couch. The other day while Dayton was awake (big mistake) I was trying to watch a Law and Order SVU that I had taped. I wanted to hear everything (because I hate missing a line), but I didn't want to blast the volume. So I sat up right in front of the TV. Dayton noticed (because Daddy pointed it out), and told me over and over, "Mommy too close." I told him it was okay, but he wouldn't stop saying it until I backed up, and then I couldn't hear my show over the noise of him playing and gabbing with Daddy. I guess I need to teach him that some rules don't apply to Mommy.


3. OCD
When my mom was here a few weeks ago, Dayton woke up very upset from a daytime nap. My mom went in to help and he was desperately crying and pointing across the room at his toys. As it turns out, Nana had put his stuffed doll on the toy shelf instead of in his stuffed animal bin. You see, Dayton won't lay down until all of his toys are cleaned up (in the living room and his bedroom). If anything is out of place, he'll say "Oh no! A mess!" and insist on tidiness before he falls asleep; he usually sings his clean-up song and helps a little. Derrick and my mom keep pointing the finger at me saying that he got this habit (sometimes called a disorder) from me. I have never taught him that this goes here and that goes there, or that he HAS to do it a certain way, but he has caught on that mommy ALWAYS puts things away in the same, specific, neat, tidy way, with pieces of sets all together and everything lined up straight. He has taken it upon himself to copy me. It also drives him (and me) crazy if we can't find a piece to a toy. I have to admit, I like that he wants things clean. His desire for order causes my house to be cleaned perfectly twice a day! However, I do feel bad when it's imposed on other people who aren't used to dealing with this type of perfection. In case you ever come over, this is how Dayton likes his toys; if you do it wrong, we WILL fix it later (no offense). And that's just one spot in his bedroom! He has an order for EVERYTHING!


4. Wet/dirty Hands (or anything else)
He hates having any wetness or residue on his hands. When he was younger, I ALWAYS wiped his hands off because I didn't want him to smear them on me and get my shirt dirty. Well now if he has the slightest bit of anything on them, he comes whining to me to clean them off. Wipe them on your pants man! This also applies to a wet spot on his clothes, which usually results in me changing him into clean, dry ones. Maybe this is another extension of his OCD. I am the same way; I hate having wet hands or clothes. Derrick can vouch for this; if he washes his hands and lightly dries them, he can't touch me or my clothes until his hands are completely dry!


5. Speech
Here are some ways he is ENTIRELY copying our speech patterns.
When we call for Dayton, he answers, "Huh?"
He set his milk on the back of the couch and said, "Be careful milk. Don't fall."
He called to me, "Hey babe" minutes after his Daddy called me with the same expression. Derrick has always used this loving term with me, and I like it, but I don't think I want Dayton calling me this, too!