Curious

Sometimes I sit back and marvel at the boys. They are so purely curious. They inspect everything new – they touch it, they tap it, they feel it, they walk around it, they pick it up, they inspect it. They do it with such purpose; it is the most important thing to do at the time. I had an opportunity last week to observe Zach. He woke up at about 9:30 because his teeth were hurting him (I think) so we brought him down stairs to reset. He was full of energy so we let him wander around the living room, and wander he did.

He pulled up the edging from the foam tiles in the living room and pushed them around as if they were a vacuum cleaner. He used them to tap on the gates and listened carefully to the sounds that they made. He walked over to his toy box and picked out a toy to inspect it. He tossed it aside and picked out another one. Once he was done with that he walked quickly from one side of the room to the next, through the gate, into the hallway, and then back. He was determined and serious the entire time. I don’t know exactly what he was thinking, but I know he was learning and it was so amazing to just sit back and watch him in his element. A little person of his own.

I had another chance to observe last night. I was preparing to get rid of one of my Macs today so I brought it up to the living room on the way to my car. In case you are curious, it was a gutted machine that I didn’t need anymore that was going to a good home. I’d never just throw one out🙂 Anyway, I put the Mac into the living room because I knew that the boys would like to inspect it. It was a G4 tower, which has handles and a flip open door. The boys were absolutely mesmerized. They walked around it and tugged on the handles, tapped on the plastic, and poked at the ports on the back.

When I pulled the tab on the door and opened the side their eyes lit up. Inside was a mostly bare motherboard, a CD-ROM, and a couple of cables. It was like a pot of gold to the boys. They poked at all of the capacitors and felt all of the textures on the circuit boards. Adam grabbed one of the loose cables and tossed it aside. Then they wanted me to close it. And open it. And close it. And open it again. They were so intrigued and excited. It was so amazing to watch.

I love these kids.