Toddlers are like little mp3 players (I was going to say parrots, but I thought I would be more high-tech with the analogy):  They record everything they hear and repeat it.  Little Man is getting very, very good at repeating things.  It’s both exhilarating and terrifying.

This new phrase of his reminds me of a saying from Pirkei Avos:

“…Know what is above you – a watchful Eye, an attentive Ear and all your deeds are recorded in a Book.”

-Avos 2:1

Yes, it sounds a bit like Big Brother, but I like to think of it as the Little Man factor.  He learns about the world, behavior and life from what he sees around himself.  For the vast majority of the time, that’s his primary caregiver, or, me.  His mommy.  I am the paradigm for Little Man (and Really Little Man, albeit on a different scale at this point).  What I do is how things are supposed to happen.

So, essentially, I’m on stage.  All the time.  Every minute that I’m in the same room as Little Man (and maybe even when I’m not).  He wants to do what Mommy does.  He’s watching and listening to learn how to behave.

But, hey, no pressure.

On a much larger level (if you can imagine something larger than shaping the mind of another human being, that is), all of our actions are being monitored and recorded by an mp3 player up above.  Okay, I guess it’s more like a video camera.  That time that you helped an elderly lady cross the street?  Totally captured.  The time you lost your cool at the driver in front of you?  Yeah, that’s on the recording, too.

So it’s not only in the interest of helping our children learn how to be decent people, but also to build a good reputation for ourselves for when that day of reckoning comes.

Try to take a moment each day and remind yourself that every action counts, and make the best possible record of your life.