Teacher's (and Mommy's) Pet

It's funny to see how much Joey is my little mini-me. Aside from the whining and complaining which I never do (ehem), she resembles me in so many ways.

Joey's Sunday school teacher called us to tell us how wonderful she was in class the other day. She was telling us that when she asked the class to help her clean up, all the other kids said they didn't want to, but Joey got up and helped put away the art supplies. Awww!!! Elysha's teacher tells me that she is her little helper too. I am so proud of them. I guess, despite all my best efforts, my children may not be turning out so bad after all.

The girls were doodling yesterday while I was getting dinner ready and they wanted their scissors. I was only able to find Elysha's and I asked Joey where her scissors were. She told me that I had taken them away from her a long time ago. She then proceeded to tell me exactly where I had put them. High up on top of the bookcase, completely out of sight from her. Joey's memory is just amazing. I took her scissors away from her during the summer because she was cutting her shirt. I completely forgot that I had done that. My BFF always calls me her elephant friend because of my amazing memory...which has all gone to pot now that I have three kids. But back in the day, I never forgot a name, I never wrote down my schedule, and if I wrote down an address once, I could recall it from memory. I hardly even used speed dialing because I had all my friends' phone numbers memorized. Unfortunately, now, I have to write notes on my forehead backwards so that when I look in the mirror, I am reminded to brush my teeth. Elysha essentially resembles me today. I don't know if it is that she doesn't listen, doesn't understand, or just doesn't care. Whatever it is, she doesn't remember a thing.

I made steaks, broccoli and mashed potato for dinner the other night, and Joey was elated that we were eating mashed potatoes. She declared it was her favorite (just as it was mine when I was a child). She was very excited and when I put it on her plate, she ate a few bites. She then proceeded to eat her meat and broccoli, and took little forkfuls of her potatoes in between bites. I asked her why she wasn't eating her potatoes. She said she was saving it for the end. I do the same thing! It must be genetic. When Chang and I started dating, we were eating something together (of course I don't remember anymore), and I was saving my favorite bite for the very end. Assuming I didn't want it, he popped it into his mouth, without even asking. I started screaming at him and completely lost it. Needless to say, he NEVER made that mistake again.

Is it nature or nurture that causes a child to be so much like his or her parent? Seeing that Joey is so much like me, Elysha must get her personality from Chang. I see a lot of her in him...aside from her tenacity (aka stubbornness), which we like to argue comes from the other parent, she is generally easy-going and happy. I guess Chang can write about her similarities to him sometime. It is funny because Elysha looks like Chang and Joey looks like me. I wonder what Sam is going to be like...