Survival Instinct

Babies are supposed to have a survival instinct in their drool filled heads. I remember seeing some psychology show where they made a visual drop off and had moms encouraging their babies to crawl over a perceived cliff. The babies were all 'Eff off, woman!' and wouldn't crawl over the "cliff".

During toddlerhood, the child is intent on testing YOUR survival instincts, as in, lets see if she notices THIS. I can't tell you how many children I see at the park on climbing structures with one foot dangling precariously in mid-air as they look at their mothers "Hey, Ma, ya see what I'm doing??"

Luke is not only an energetic and confident child, he's an independent child. I sat at the park yesterday with another mom who's son played happily in front of us, while Luke ran to the other side of the playground. He had a bowl of rice Chex, and mommy tends to eat his snacks, so he could have been protecting his food, too. After he finished eating he approached a group of three 4-5 year old girls and began placing his empty bowl on his head to amuse them.

Then he tried to run into the parking lot.

SO, we moved on home. We'd been at the park an HOUR and a HALF. Which is a long freaking time. He ran a lot of that time. I thought he'd be tired by then.

Instead, when I went to sit on the couch - and I'm still not sure how he did this - he managed to dart between my legs and the couch seat and start climbing up. Which meant that I was GOING TO SIT ON HIS HEAD. I began flailing about, arching my back and desperately attempting to reverse the sitting down process. And while I didn't sit on him, I did smack my arm hard on some non-soft portion of the couch (I'm not sure where, because of the flailing).

No survival instinct, that kid.