Instincts

Last year my Mom rescued some wild kittens from the bus barn at her school. At first they hissed and wobbled around on malnourished legs. After a while they became accustomed to being handled, and before long they were the most friendly cats you ever did see. We spent one afternoon ridding them of fleas and they became even happier, rid of those detestable pests.

Soon they were too much of a nuisance to have in the garage because they would run up to the back door and get underfoot the minute you stepped outside. So Mom put a box out under the elm tree and we would go visit the kittens there, making it feel like home for them. My Mom was their Mom. She fed them, cared for them, and she insisted that she was teaching them how to climb.

Most people assume that cats can climb instinctually. Not my Mom. She is a natural teacher and at the end of a long day in the classroom she would come home and turn the shady trunk of the elm into her own outdoor classroom. Taking turns and giving each kitten their fair share of her attentions, Mom would put each kitty a few feet up the slanted post of the fence and let them crawl back down. Before long the kittens had graduated to the tree trunk and Mom would wrap their arms around the tree higher and higher up the trunk and let them scoot on down bum-first. I think they felt safe knowing her hands were just below ready to catch them. She must have been a great teacher because soon those kitties were running and jumping onto the trunk of the tree like little Spiderman, hanging in one spot before leaping away again and tackling their brothers.

I think babies are a lot like kitties. Most people assume that they learn to walk and talk instinctually, when really the world is their classroom. They are learning from the people around them, not from some built-in instinct (although learning itself may be instinctual). In this instance, Luke is learning the most from Derek and me. And although some people may laugh at our “Rolling Lessons” and our “conversations” with Luke, this is his safe place to test the waters and become more and more brave until one day he will jump onto the trunk of the elm tree all by himself!

The news: Luke has now rolled over all by himself two times! He has also started rubbing his eyes when he is tired, which I vote “most endearing trait in a baby” (not just because it’s a way to tell you they’re tired without screaming – haha).