Monkey In The Mirror?

Will is growing up so fast. I know that I've already written about him and his talking, but I just have to comment on him again. It just seems like everyday he comes up with the funniest little things. I guess it's because the other two were so close in age. Or maybe it's just that I was a crazy woman back then with them being so close and little at the same time. I think possibly it is because I now have two other people at home with me to laugh in amazement at all the new accomplishments.

Just the other day we were out eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We had met Rusty there and had the best meal. We were seated at a large round booth and we let Will sit in the middle of us like a big boy. He did very well and ate his entire meal of chicken nuggets (yes, I know, we pretend they are fried Mexican style). When we were waiting on our check he decided to get up and walk around the booth (actually on the seat) and check things out. There was a mirror on the wall behind us. He kept looking at it checking himself out. We thought this was so funny. He then stood up, looked at himself, and then crouched down and came back up slowly peeking at his reflection making the most serious face I've ever seen. Complete with furrowed eyebrows. It was all I could do but laugh. That night we were watching a program on Animal Planet (John Russel's favorite channel) on Orangutans. It was talking about how smart these animals are. They did this test on one of them that consisted of looking in the mirror with a blob of blue paint on their heads. If they tried to wipe it off they knew it was their own reflection. They amazingly passed. The scientists went on to explain that human children will not know that they are looking at their own reflection until the age of three. I thought this was so interesting. It made me think of Will and him making that face in the mirror. Was he really thinking he was seeing some other cute little boy around the corner? How funny. So, of course, I had to do my own test. I made a mark on his cheek and took him to a mirror. He immediately tried to wipe it off. Well, I thought, either I have a gifted two year old, or those scientists were off on their theories!

Isn't it funny how we put so much emphasis on what "the experts" say we should or should not be doing that we lose focus of what we actually can do. I'm not saying to forget the milestone chart, but if you just relax and realize what is really important you will get more joy and laughter out of life. I think we all could learn something from Will and his gazes at his reflection: Let's all relax and have fun with that cute boy/girl in the mirror.