If you get sick, I get sick

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Sometimes, I wonder.

I once came across the following on a message board I frequent: "When my neice was a baby, I taught her how to quack like a duck. My sister has never forgiven me."

But, sometimes, imitation is good. Educational. Even cute.

One eye-rolling form of imitation is how Jennifer has been trying to teach Jesse how to bang on his chest and cry out like Tarzan. *groan* I've told her many times not to do that but she thinks it's hilarious. Fortunately, Jesse hasn't caught on to it yet, but she hasn't given up on her mission to have two Tarzan fans in the family. LOL

One thing I did end up having Jesse imitate, though, was how I'd throw my arms up in the air and go, "Yay!" This was an easy thing for him to copy. A lot of times, he'll laugh first, then throw his arms up and go, "Yay!" Sometimes he'll do this after me or Jennifer do this. Or sometimes he'll do this on his own. For example, one day I was going about, cleaning, while he was eating his lunch. As I passed him sitting in his highchair, he reached out his hand and said, "Mama." I turned to look at him. He threw up his arms and went, "Yay!" *dies from cuteness overdose*

Imitation has its good sides and bad sides. And sometimes, it's not the baby imitating the parent. But the other way around.

Recently, Jesse got sick with a cold. He was sneezing and had a runny nose. On Easter Sunday, I started being the one doing the imitating. I was sneezing my head off and had a runny nose, too.

Yep, I got sick on Easter. Yep, both Jesse and I have been sick.

This is the kind of "bad imitation" I am talking about here. But at least this one will pass soon enough. It's just not passing as quickly as I would like it to.

And while on the subject of imitation, Jesse has imitated me wiping my nose with a tissue while we're both sick. If he sees me wipe my nose with a tissue, he'll reach out for a tissue, then wipe his nose with it. It's cute to watch but I have to wonder if he "gets" why I'm wiping my nose at all. Time will tell, I suppose.

And, apparently, Jesse and I are not the only sickies in the house. I caught it from Jesse and my husband caught it from me.

At least the older child knows better not to "imitate" this one.