Outsmarted

When all his peers were going through the hitting-kicking-biting-pushing stage, Luke breezed right on through it like a little angel. Now, the halo is getting a quite tarnished. It's mainly the pushing--no, really, it's mainly the TACKLING that concerns me. If someone pushes him just a tiny bit, he tackles them to the ground and lies on top of them. If someone takes a toy from him, he hits them and then takes the toy back AND THEN tackles them to the ground and lies on top of them. If someone hits him, he hits them back AND THEN tackles them to the ground and lies on top of them. Surely, you're seeing a trend.

Yesterday, we were at open gym and he wanted all the little cars. Now, there were enough other toys that he probably COULD have had all the cars and there would still have been plenty for everyone else to play with, but, uh, are you familiar with toddlers? And the fact that they really only want the toys that someone else has? So of course, as soon as he started hoarding little cars, the little cars became the MOST COVETED TOY EVER. Hence the ensuing grab for power...and cars.

I talked to him about sharing...and then talked to him again...and then left the gym for a few minutes so he could be away from the situation. Before going back in, I told him that he could play with as many cars as he could carry IN HIS HANDS because as soon as he put them down, other kids came to play with them and that was escalating the pushing-hitting-tackling behavior. So I figured that there were, like, thirty cars there, so if each toddler could only carry two--or at the very most, three--then, there would be more than enough for everyone, right? Silly me.

Not five minutes later, I noticed my child walking around carrying one of the plastic boxes that they use for toy storage. And inside the box were about 20 cars. Because technically, TECHNICALLY, he was carrying them all "in his hands."