Weird Science

I recently heard someone say that toddlers are natural-born scientists--curious about the workings of everything and constantly performing experiments to make sense of their world. Even though I’ve spent my life with children, my own and others, I had never visualized the behaviors of little ones in just that way. It certainly puts some tendencies, including frustrating ones like slobbering on everything, climbing dangerously high, and demanding that someone repeatedly retrieve purposely dropped items, into a more interesting and less aggravating perspective. Thank goodness something can because kids aren’t just scientists, they are mad scientists recklessly creating danger “monsters” they don’t yet have the skills to navigate and need constant intervention from big-people lab assistants to keep from perishing. In Michael J. Fox’s recent biography, he tells of having the opportunity to spend large spans of time with his youngest child when his illness forced him to work less than when his older children were little. He discovered that tending a toddler is like being on “24-hour suicide watch” because they are always trying to kill themselves. Amen. When Connor was two, he kept complaining about “it” being “hot, Mama, hot.” I could not figure out what was burning him until I pulled out a couch to get to a hidden outlet and found a set of keys stuffed in one of the slots. Crazy kid had electrocuted himself with curiosity. “Ladybug” magazine’s monthly toddler books, called “Babybug,” show little ones experiencing all kinds of new things--always under close supervision.

P.S. Connor was saved from himself right after this picture was taken.

P.S.2 Happy Birthday, Keilana! I love you.
http://www.babybugmagkids.com/