Chit Chat: The Things Kids Do

Baby boy is at that age where he loves to explore...everything! He also likes to show us how strong he is. He walks up to everything and tries to shake it...chairs, tables, a large glass jug sitting on a brick fireplace. You name it, he wants to shake it. There are some days that he spends more time shaking his Little Tikes swing set, than he does sliding and playing on it.

Well, I didn't think anything of this until one day last week while dropping him off at daycare. He started shaking the play kitchen in his class room. His teacher proceeded to tell me that this was common behavior for him. She said she tells him, "Baby Boy, you can not shake the kitchen because it could fall on one of your friends and hurt them. You don't want to hurt your friends, do you?" Then she said, Baby Boy will walk away from the kitchen and play with something else. After a few minutes (or seconds), he will get up, walk over to her, and give her legs a big hug. Then he walks right back to the play kitchen and starts shaking it, she said.

I chuckled at this determination Baby Boy has, because we have seen this in several circumstances at home.

Tonight, it was while I was trying to unload, and then load the dishwasher. Baby boy wanted to explore the silverware. I would tell him he needed to put it back away, and help him put it wher it belonged. He would walk up hug my legs, and head right back to the silverware.

It is as if he has determined that by giving a hug, it makes the naughty behavior all A-OK. Boy, they figure things out young!