Just as instantaneously, my boys conclude that the soft cushy objects are there purely for their wrestling pleasure, and within seconds have plunged toward it and find themselves in a tangled, giggling pile of arms and legs.
This shocks me: even Cubby, who does not walk yet and is not quite on the same physical level as his brothers, joins in without hesitation, as if wrestling is THE ultimate activity. And for once, his brothers allow full interaction with them – not fighting him off saying the baby is “messing up” their game or is “in the way.”
The grappling commences as if they have never before been handed the exciting opportunity to roll around, as though they have encountered a bouncy surface for the very first time.
My hunch is that this phenomenon (like many, I am discovering) is uniquely male. I cannot really imagine that those with female children find that they, too, take every occasion available to wrestle. I know some of it is nurture – and what parent doesn’t roll around with their young ones tickling and goofing off – but am thinking that most of it is nature, a uniquely male instinct to wildly tackle and pin each other to the floor.
Now if I can just keep up the “mommy is fragile” belief so I don’t get painfully pinned in the process!
