Older siblings are there to be copied, right?

Imitation and replication are vital tools in a young child’s armoury when it comes to learning, and Kara is no exception. There are times when she parrots particular expressions of Heather’s or mine where she captures not just the words but also our tone of voice perfectly.

There’s nothing quite as sobering as hearing your two-year-old daughter telling her brothers off in exactly the same way that you do. Equally, there are few things as amusing as when she doesn’t quite get something right.

Her brothers are busily – and somewhat irksomely – running around making the ‘loser’ sign at each other at the moment. You know the one, where thumb and forefinger are placed against the forehead making an ‘L’ shape.

Kara, mimic that she is, has the verbal aspect of this down to a ‘T’ an ‘L’. But she hasn’t got the finger gesture quite right yet. I think I prefer this version!