Monkey See....Monkey Do

Mom's always callin' Lexie a "lil' monkey". Partly 'cause she's always jumpin' or climbin' up on stuff. But mostly 'cause the is a "monkey see, monkey do" kinda gal. Pretty much everything she knows is 'cause she's watched me do it. (Of course she sometimes puts her own spin on things.)

For instance.....three years ago....

Last nite, she did somethin' new. Here's the deal...back when there was just me (seems like forever ago), I used to play ball outside w/mom. Then along came Lexie, who is so eager to please, she took over the outside ball n' frisbee games. She wanted so bad to do it...I let her. Mom or dad throws a ball or frisbee across the yard & Lexie chases after it as fast as she can. Ever since then, me & mom have a private game every nite in the house w/one of my lil' soft balls or binky. I'll take it to mom...then she'll tell me to "go waaaay back", & I'll back up across the room. Then she throws it, I jump up n' catch it, & she claps real loud. Then I take it back to her, & we do this 3 or 4 times. It's our thing. Last nite, we were doin' this..& all of a sudden, Lexie goes over to her toy box & grabs a stuffed squirrel & takes it to mom. Mom asks her if she wanted her to throw it...& Lexie starts backin' up across the room w/a big smile on her face, all on her own.

Now...you gotta understand...Lexie can't catch..she's terrible at it. (Her havin' only one eye she can see out off..may have a lil't o do w/it)   Usually, the only thing she can catch that's thrown to her, is my big fuzzy ball or her giant pumkin'. Both of which are bigger then her head, so they're hard for her to miss.

Well, Lexie stops about 8 feet from mom w/a look of serious concentration. Mom shows her the squirrel & gives it a slow toss right to her. Lexie jumps up...an' grabs it w/both paws & her mouth..surprisin' all of us. You should have seen how excited n' proud she was as she brought that squirrel right back to mom to do it again. Heck..I was even excited. Guess she's been watchin' me & figurin' out how to do it...& it worked. She's probably the only 'dale that catches stuff w/her front paws in the air, but it works for her