The Inventor

My son David, has always been interested in how things work. Two of his favorite books are "How it works in the city" and "How it works in the country." These books explain how just about everything works, from sewer systems to milking machines.

At the grand old age of 9 months our son did not awaken us in the early morning hours as was his custom. Checking the video monitor that covered the entire crib we saw no David. We ran into his room, only to find a pile of stuffed animals in the middle of the room next to a crib that had been dismantled. The bottom of the crib was still attached, but one of the side pieces was laying on the floor. So David had slid down the front like a slide and begun playing with his toys and stuffed animals.

How did this happen? Were we that bad at putting the crib together? Then we heard the giggles emanating from the pile of animals and saw a smiling face that looked strangely like our son peeking through. That afternoon we repaired the crib, taking extra care to tighten all the bolts. That evening we watched in fascination as our 9-month-old son would shook the front of the crib, then with those little baby fingers tried to unscrew the bolts. This went on repeatedly until he came to realize this was not going to work. So for the next several months we had to tighten the crib bolts on a daily basis. I kid you not—this is a true story. We even kept a copy of the e-mail we sent to my in-laws about the incident.

Inventor-man David

When he was three he would ask to ride the rides at Wal-Mart, only to jump off as soon as the ride started. People's looks at me were comical—Why would a mother let her child lay on the dirty floor under the ride? But the first time I asked what he was doing he just said "I gotta see how it works." He then would tell us in great detail what rod was being rotated in order to make the ride go forward. My philosophy was dirt can be washed off and if he wants to learn, he should go for it.

I, however, was not so thrilled when at the age of four he took the toilet apart to see how it worked. My clean bathroom was not so clean as water from the tank spewed out the top. I had to wade into the half-inch deep water to shut off the water flow.

Today as my inventor was mowing the lawn I found a sight to start my head shaking. He had taken the rake and attached it to the lawnmower. When asked, he stated this was to collect the cut grass and save time. One smart cookie.