Say again?

Proving that where there's a will, there's a way, I just successfully navigated the Younger's first movie theater experience, during naptime, by myself.  And I had the girls squirreled away in their respective corners of the house within 10 minutes of the credits rolling. 

Credits...out the door...pull into the driveway...wash hands (Oh, the dirty, dirty floors!!!)...Mama needs her afternoon break.  Bless the little hearts and hands that feel there is no surface that cannot be touched and no M & M that cannot be eaten after having fallen on a movie theater floor.  Sure, Monkey Kingdom is playing in front of us on a screen that is larger than an innocent, 2-year old's mind can possibly fathom, but FOR THE SAKE OF CHOCOLATE, SAVE THE M & M!!! 

You're all something of a captive audience (feel free to close me if you feel that I'm about to get overbearingly smug, which I am), so indulge me as I pat my own back some more: I picked the perfect time to take two children to a movie theater--when NO ONE else was there.  We could say that I called ahead and bought every ticket for that showing.  But we would be liars, liars pants-a-fires now, wouldn't we?  I'm blaming it on a gorgeous afternoon and choosing a movie that takes some panache and verve.  Probably the former.  Oh, DisneyNature, you never fail to charm me and seduce my love of all things animal. 

Whatever that camera crew was paid for filming monkeys in the middle of swarms of flying termites, I maintain they were not paid enough. 

But I'm not here today to dwell on the likes of Mia, Kip, Kumar, and their macaque monkey escapades (though, seriously...) but rather to note the we're-definitely-in-the-middle-of-the-mimicry-stage of the Younger's development.  Hello, did I specifically order the Elder 2.0?  I don't believe that I did.  You know what they say: If you look exactly like older sister, then act just like her as well.  It's most noticeable in conversation, hard to miss, actually.

the Elder:  It's hot today.
the Younger:  It's hot today.
the Elder:  You're copying me.
the Younger:  You're copying me.
the Elder:  No, I'm not.
the Younger:  No, I'm not.

And so it goes.  It's all that was annoying of my life in the 1990's all over again.  But it could be worse, of course; she could be mimicking everything that I say seeing as how she's right by my side about 10 hours a day.  That could be an enjoyable game that we could play all day long.  Every day.  All by ourselves.  (Or not.)

Instead, I just enjoy the varying levels of torture that she's inflicting on the Elder (who, naturally, deserves some of what she dishes out) and appreciate this obvious developmental process playing out right in front of our eyes.  It's quite a bit of fun when you can measure the thought processes and understand how exactly the littles are learning at this very moment. 

The Younger may get almost everything as a hand-me-down, but let me tell 'ya, a hand-me-down language is a mighty powerful tool for a 2-year old.