best of 2009..chip off the block moments

{every day from now until december 31st i will be including a "best of 2009" post, with lists & thoughts galore about my favorites and best ofs the past year. check back in and feel free to share your related best of 2009 in the comments, or suggest a best of topic!}

today's topic: chip off the block moments

the older little m gets, the more i see little glimpses of matt and i in her. she is, and has been from birth, fiercely independent. but at the same time, my heart wells up with pride here and there as i see her mimicking her mom and dad. here are 9 of them:1. social as she can be, she needs healthy doses of alone time, just like matt.

2. at the same time, our little one gravitates to other human beings- strangers or friends. (just like her mommy...) she can't help but interact with people if they are close by. i'd say i don't know where she gets it from, but then i'd be a liar. usually she hates the cart at the store & melts down (as in, strangers come up to me and ask me if my screaming child is ok); when she got to sit with micah in the cart, she was happy as could be.

3. mmm. our mini foodie. here she devours a salted chocolate cookie at cafe fanny in berkeley. (smart girl)

4. picking wine with her daddy
(she looks like an expert, right?)

5. my mini me artist. her new word is "co!" i finally realized she is saying she wants to color! on paper, on the floor, on her clothes, on the bills, on her hands. i have a difficult time coming down too hard on her, since, well, that is exactly what i used to do.
6. little m has definitely been around some dinner parties...at school last week she pulled chairs up to the table, and then proceeded to plop a baby into the highchair. (note the position of the poor baby in the highchair) she then gathered and set the table with cups, plates, silverware, a pitcher, and bottles for her guests. so serious. so focused.
7. so. my daughter is a flirt. this may be many years in my past, but at one point, maybe, a little bit, here and there, i was known to be a teensy bit flirtacious. it must have just been passed on in the gene pool somehow.
8. my poor mom- she always wanted to read me stories, but i wanted to "read" them to myself, and now i am reaping that with little m. she likes to snuggle up on my lap too, but she prefers to read stories to herself, to turn the pages by herself, and to pick the books by herself. (the "by herself" theme being one that is replicated in many areas of her daily routine.)
9. apparently we talk on our phones.

how about you? does your kidlet mimic you? or as you get older are you realizing that you do things exactly the way your mom or dad did?