And it begins...

Rudy has officially merged from baby to boy; he disassembled his first toy today.

I always thought the difference between boys and girls was SO nurture vs. nature. I thought we all train our boys to have certain interests and our girls to have others. I must admit, I have conveniently forgot to remind Rudy that he was dead set on painting his nails after his bath (when I totally would have reminded a daughter). For the most part, though, I've tried to stay pretty neutral about Rudy's interests, so that he feels free to express them and act upon them as he sees fit.

Since he was strong enough to move his head, he's been turning it toward cars. He's been interested in wheels, gears, screws, tools, and all things mechanic. He can mimic with relative accuracy the different engine sounds a motorcycle, truck, car, or airplane make. His first few words were car, go, and wheel.

So it doesn't surprise me that his first adventure in figuring out how things work was played out upon his favorite toy car. Intensely concentrating, he meticulously picked the thing apart, and inspected each piece, as if to further understand it's function.

I walked into the room to find the project underway, and so unfortunately, didn't have the chance to warn Rudy that sometimes when we take things apart, they just don't go back together. He was so interested in the disassembled toy, however, that it didn't seem to bother him that the pieces wouldn't permanently stick back together.

We'll see how he feels about it in the morning.