When we first got home with our new children, my oldest son he had to have the concept of “copying is flattery” explained to him many, many times. Now, he loves when they want to be just like him, and actually goes out of his way to encourage it.

I’ve mentioned that my daughter has, what she calls, her “fake pump” to mimic that of my oldest’s insulin pump. Whatever he chooses for dessert is what she wants. Ditto with my youngest son - he loves my oldest son’s outgrown clothing and begs to wear certain outfits so he can “be” his older brother.

I love to knit, so naturally, as soon as my oldest was old enough, I taught him to knit. As soon as my daughter arrived, she, too, was taught to knit. My youngest has been begging me to teach him to knit, so he can be like his “bubbie” and “sissy.” But, as he is only four, and lacks the manual dexterity needed, I’ve held off. Yesterday, as the kids and I were sitting on my bed knitting together, he took up his battle cry again, and I headed over to YouTube to get a video tutorial so that I could teach him to finger knit today - or as he calls it, “knitting fingers.” He’s thrilled he can be like his sibs now!

In another show of familial “copying”, the boys got “matching” mohawks (one got a mohawk, one got a faux-hawk) tonight. Tomorrow, they will get matching “dye” jobs (colored spike glue that washes right out – lest you think I’m truly enlightened!)

I don’t know that my oldest’s mohawk will last beyond Saturday night, as we tend to keep the boys pretty respectable for worship, but nonetheless, they had a great day of bonding!

Photo credit: Marie Stroughter