My infant son is napping in my arms, which is the only way he’ll nap for any reasonable amount of time these days. This makes it tricky if I actually want to get anything done, like work to help support us or... I don’t know... maybe eat something. However, it does afford me a fair amount of time for studying this little life form I’ve brought into the world.
Luke’s going through a bit of a mommy phase. He doesn’t like me to be out of sight for very long, and either me or Shawn setting him down for a minute is often totally out of the question. It’s proving to be a challenging phase for all of us.
From a biologic point of view, it makes sense. His little instincts aren’t aware that there is a whole freezer full of pain-stakingly acquired, stored, and labeled milk just for him and that this wonderful invention called a bottle allows for the distribution of said milk. Though he has encountered this bottle thing before, he doesn’t look to it as a food source. He only looks to two things and they’re conveniently attached to my chest.
Imagine if your refrigerator put on ballet slippers a couple times a week and headed out the front door. You’d find it disconcerting too.
Of course if your fridge walked out on you, you could go down the street to where that taco truck is always parked and place an order. Imagine not even being able to rely on your own body for transportation -- even to simply roll over. There is nothing you can do about it if that tag on the back of your shirt is scratching the back of your neck. Everything is always out of reach and no one speaks your language. Imagine how absolutely terrifying it would be to be alone.
A child’s reliance on his mother is pre-programmed, even an older child. My guess is that overwhelming fear is supposed to keep you from wandering off and getting eaten by saber-tooth tigers. I can recall several times as a kid being home alone and worrying about where my mom was.
Geez, she’s been at the store a long time. I mean, I did my math homework, watched Batman and Saved by the Bell, and she’s still not home. How long does it take to buy bread and orange juice? What if something happened to her?
Here’s an interesting factoid for you: of the 33 full-length animated films that Disney has made that involve some sort of young person as a main character, 27 of them feature that character as being orphaned by at least one parent.
Remarkable, isn’t it?
What conclusions can we draw here? Being without your parents is scary to little kids and they prefer to have all hands on deck whenever possible. And the smaller they are, the more that holds true. And little Luke is still rather small.
So is your refrigerator running? Well, you better go and catch it.