Fixing the Toys

Miles often amuses me greatly as he plays. One of the things I find most amusing is this:

Whenever he gets a toy he likes, one of the first things he does is turn it upside down. And bang on it with whatever is handy. In this particular case, he had just finished beating it with the blue ring in the bottom corner of the picture. Those rings are a favorite tool. Because that's the only thing I can imagine that he could be doing - fixing the toys.

I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous. But you haven't seen how methodical this kid is. He very carefully turns the toy over, observing any changes in how it behaves. Then, he sits back on his knees and watches it as though it might spontaneously jump back over to upright. When it doesn't, he will crawl away, and find a tool. Any sufficiently solid toy will do, so long as he can comfortably hold it in one hand. Then, the real work begins. He taps on the bottom of the toy, tentatively at first, then harder until it resounds with a certain quality of "Thwang!"

Then, he places the tool on the floor beside him, and carefully turns the toy back over. He'll press a few buttons, and before long, he's playing with the toy as it was intended to be played with. I have seen him do this with this car toy, a toy xylophone-gator, his new keyboard, and his pop-up animal toy (more about that one later this week). I have watched him, and the only conclusion I can come to is that he is fixing the toys.

Because, you know, apparently they were broken when I bought them. :)