Like mother, like daughter

While pregnant with my daughter, I was shopping for baby clothes with my mom when it occurred to me that I was automatically thinking "this would look cute on a little red-haired girl." Of course, I could not know the color of my daughter's hair at the time. I'm sure there's some extensive research out there that would tell me the psychological reason for my assumption that my daughter's physical appearance would favor my own.

Turns out - while she looks a lot like her father - she does have my coloring. Red hair. Blue eyes. And over the last five years, I've noticed other similarities that seem to be engrained in her genes.

But recently, it's the elective similarities that have caught my attention.

"Would you like some cereal with blueberries, honey?" I'll ask. "What are you going to have?" she'll reply. "Cereal with blueberries", I answer. "Then that's what I want."

"What does Mommy want to do?," she'll ask when my husband offers her an option between a couple of activities. "I want to do whatever Mommy wants to do."

I ask which sticker she wants. "Which one would you choose if you were me?," she inquires. And "I'm wearing my flip flops 'cause you're wearing your flip flops, Mommy. We're twins!"

If the threes were a time of pushing her independence, the fours and fives appear to be a time of observing and emulating Mommy.

And while most of the time it's pretty trivial stuff, it still always takes me back a bit. Because it's a reminder of how closely she's watching me. And, well, as Laurie Berkner sings "I'm not perfect. No I'm not!"

What am I doing that I don't want her to pick up? What should I be sure to model at this oh-so-impressionable age?

As scary as the responsibility can feel, I know there will come a day that she'll shift back to fighting for her independence. So for now, I'll enjoy the flattery of imitation and the sweetness of a daughter who wants to be just like Mommy.

Amy McCall is a Marketing Manager for Texas Health Resources and Mom to one daughter.