Tuesday, July 9, 2013

There's a Bookshelf Next to a Door

The bookshelf was not placed there with any more of a thought than "it fits".
At the time I placed my (not so) sacred copies of paperback Star Wars books, little minds moving little hands was not a thought in the process.
It was simply placed there.

Over the course of the last few weeks, this area of his room has been the pasture in which he has learned simple motor function.
Daily he shuffles over to the bookshelf in question with one leg as the propeller and the other for guidance and reaches the lower shelf with no opposition. Here is where he defines his motor skills and methodically pulls each of the paperback books off the shelf and puts them behind him on the floor.

This process is as fascinating for me as it must be for him. I can see his wheels turn. And when he has emptied the shelf, he turns with a grin and we practice our clapping as we applaud his Herculean effort. He is to be celebrated for defining his limitless abilities.

Yesterday was the same, however after the 3rd of 25 books was de-shelved, he noticed the door next to the bookshelf.
This door was not just put in, nor was the bookshelf recently placed next to it. This door has been there all the while. But to him it was new.

So he shuffled over to investigate. One leg as the propeller and the other for guidance.
He realized that he could move the door if he pushed on it, and so he did. But out of the corner of his eye he saw the work that still remained on the lowest shelf of the bookcase. So he shuffled back....one leg as the propeller and the other for guidance, and began his book removal routine.

He has done the routine so often now that he was able to take the books off one by one without looking, which was good, because this allowed him to keep one eye on that "new" door, until finally he had to get back to it.

I could see him wonder "if I keep pushing the door, how far will it go". So once again he abandoned his book post in search of loftier experiments....one leg as the propeller and the other for guidance.
He continued to push the door until he closed it all the way, then with a final push he made it click shut in place.
I could see the "phew" of hard achieved satisfaction as he closed, not just the door, but the whole task at hand and put it behind him so that now he could return to his original job site.

I believe this to be his first real lesson of prioritizing and multitasking and had no idea this would be such and influential area when I so nonchalantly put the bookshelf next to the door.