I have 2 two yr old dcgs, the younger one has almost an obsessive type behavior. She follows, I mean most of the time so close she gets knocked down the other little girl. She copies EVERY SINGLE word the other little girl says. She wants to play with EVERY SINGLE toy the other little girl takes out to play with. She makes EVERY SINGLE motion that the other little girl does. Even when it comes down to eating, she is finished when the other little girl is done. Drinking out of a cup she has to take a sip at the same time! Now I know kids learn from watching others, but I'm not exaggerating when I say obsessive! Parents say she is the same way at home with her sibling. I have not ever seen a personality quite like hers. It causes issues because the other little girl is very independent and doesn't tolerate her well being constantly in her personal space. I feel like a broken record telling her to "go play" or "give her space". It's stressing me out that they can't even be playmates because she is constantly in the other ones face!

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I have a dcb 2 1/2yr who does much of what you've have described, except he's not very vocal...he watches the other kids and try to do what they're doing and if one of the kids he's mimicking makes eye contact with him, he either act as if he wants to start chasing them, or try to get them to chase him.

I'm thinking he is just a little behind in his social skills, and that's the only way he can be social and interact with other kids.

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I have a 2.5 year old who does many similar things. Doesn't initiate his own play, just watches other kids or copies them exactly. The other kids love this because he will play exactly how they tell him to, and the rest of my group loves to be bossy. He has to have whatever anyone else has. Repeats word for word what the others say. He doesn't do all of this all the time, but a lot of it lots of the time.

I'm surprised the girl you have has an older sibling. My assumption was that this behavior comes from not knowing how to play well/lack of social skills and trying to connect with kids but not quite getting it yet.

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My 2yo dd did this to my other daughter. For her it was for attention. When she did it, she could make her sister scream and get me to jump up and try to stop her. When I stopped worrying about it, both my older dd and the 2yo figured out on their own how to play together.

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She is not very vocal either, only repeating what others say, but not talking too much on her own. She seems lost if my other dcg is not here, she whines all day long, it makes for very long days

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