The experiment

I saw the most amazing thing on tv today. I was watching one of those shows about child psychology where they perform different experiments to learn about behavior. They were doing one on temperment, trying to decide if kids are born with different temperments (seems obvious, but I have been wondering this...I'll explain later). They put an about 9 month old baby in a room with their mom. The mom is reading a magazine and the baby had their own book to look at/play with. Then a plant was brought in and the moms we supposed to keep their baby from touching it. The first one they showed was a mom and her son. She was trying to read her magazine but he kept trying to take it or play with it. She tried and tried to interest him in his book, but he was only interested in what she was doing. Then when they brought the plant out, he went right for it. His mom said no and moved him and he went right back for it. He kept doing this over and over. The narrator explained that this mom had to work really hard at parenting because of the temperment of the child and the only solution was to remove the temptation.
Next, they showed a mom and her daughter. When they were doing the magazine/book part of the experiment the baby just played with her book while the mom read her magazine. Then, when the plant was brought out the baby went right for it. Her mom said no and the baby never went for it again. The narrator then explained that this mom didn't have to work as hard to parent. I was in complete shock that such a child could exist! But, at the same time, it was a relief to me that, as they were explaining, kids are just born with different temperments, so parenting is different depending on the child. I was always worried in the back of my mind that Jordan was exactly like that first child because I had done something wrong that made him not want to listen or play independently.
Then I was thinking about what it would be like to have a child that you could just set down and do whatever you wanted because the child was playing happily by themself. Wow...I can't imagine, but I bet I might have a clean house! But, I love Jordan's personality. So thinking about changing one thing makes me wonder if he would still be him. So, to my crazy, busy little boy....

I LOVE YOU just the way you are!