I came upstairs last night to find Max leading his mother on a quest for items he needed to take care of his ‘baby’, a small teddy bear from his room. This baffled me. He has shown some caregiver behaviors before, like brushing the teeth of a few of his stuffed animals during teeth-brushing time, but the focus, determination and complexity of his taking care of baby baffled me.
It turns out that one of his friends is quite fond of her baby doll, and he saw her playing mommy at her birthday party. I would have never bet on Max deciding to devote over an hour to dressing, feeding, and tucking in his baby. I don’t even like pretending to take care of a baby right now, so it’s a little hard for me to be an enthusiastic participant in the baby game. Nonetheless, I helped him get his old baby chair from the basement and set it up for his furry little child.
As an added bonus, the baby chair has a motor in it to generate a gentle vibrating sensation to soothe a grumpy child. I had forgotten all about that motor, and I spent a good half hour trying to identify the quiet buzzing noise that was lurking in the living room. Oh that boy.
Chris Loblaw, Author 