Curious

At Riley's daycare, I asked a few questions about his development. Primarily I was concerned about his speech, because most of his friends talk quite a bit more than he does. I also wanted to check in on his behavior. As the boy inches toward two, we're seeing a lot for desire for independence and control which can lead to tantrums and misbehavior. I wanted to make sure he isn't driving the staff nuts or signaling larger problems to come.

Well, they didn't have much to say about his language (I'm waiting to talk with the daycare's expert in those matters to learn more). But they said his behavior is on par with the rest of his cohort. Apparently he's no more tantrum-prone or mischievous than the rest of the toddler knuckleheads at the daycare. Where his teacher said he does stand out is his curiosity. In fact, she said he's definitely the most curious kid at the school, investigating, opening and looking under just about everything.

It's an interesting take on behavior that I had thought might be naughtiness, but, come to think of it, should probably just be classified as inquisitiveness. It reminds me of an interesting book that catalogued the childhoods of a couple dozen scientists. If there was one running theme among those profiled, it's that they had all been very curious kids and given lots of room to explore their worlds. Hmmm...maybe we have another scientist in the making.