Imitation

Today Paisley and I had enjoyed a few minutes of just sitting and hanging out while Erik was eating his  lunch. I was making faces trying to get her to smile at me, and noticed that when I stuck my tongue out, Paisley would start wiggling her tongue around. I kept making faces, and pretty soon she was sticking her tongue WAY out of her mouth every time I stuck mine out at her. 

As soon as I pulled out the camera, she got distracted and wouldn't stick her tongue out as far, but it was still pretty cute!

The human brain is hard-wired to imitate and conform with those around us. Ethan and I just watched a whole program on PBS about this a few weeks ago and it was really interesting. The instinct to imitate those around us is one of self-preservation and learning. By watching and imitating me, Paisley was becoming more aware of what her body can do, and fine tuning her muscle control. As she gets older, imitation should continue to be something she really enjoys and she should be able to mimic more and more complicated tasks. Things like clapping, waving, etc are just a few more steps down the road from sticking out her tongue.