Crazy or Creative - Little Brains in Action

I love when Edie potters around and is oblivious to the fact that I am watching her.  It's so fascinating to see what she chooses to do.  Sometimes you really wonder what's going through their wee minds.  What is it they think they are doing or saying?  Or is it really just totally random?
The other day I watched her tottering round with her hair clip in her hand.  My Nana is rolling in her grave as I write that - she told me I shouldn't put hair clips in her hair as she might choke on them.  Nana then proceeded to tell me a gruesome story of a child she knew who'd died when she choked on a hair clip.  I did what good grand children do: nodded and agreed and tut-tutted, removed the hair clip, then replaced it the minute I walked out the door.  It's not that I didn't believe her but Edie's hair is always in her eyes and that's no good for her either.  So I put hair clips in.  Plus they're cute and as I've mentioned before, a small child is yours to dress in any way that entertains you.  It's one of the pay-offs for the shitty nappies and the lack of sleep.  So Edie's wears hair clips but truthfully, here's what happens to Edie's hair clips.

Chart from www.chartgo.com

Anyway, as I was saying I was watching her totter around the other day with her hair clip in hand.  She stumbled up to the dishwasher (a big favourite.  Sure that will end once she realises it's something to do with tidying and cleaning) and gave it a long hard look.  She took a couple of shuffles to the side and gave another long, hard look to the gap between the dishwasher and the oven.  She then reached her arm into the gap between the two appliances.  She didn't merely put her arm out, she stretched it as far as her little body would allow.  With concentration, she extended until her wee chin was pushed against the dishwasher.  Only when she could go no further, did she drop the hair clip and retract her arm.  Once the dirty deed was done, she gave the gap a once over just to make sure all was as she intended, then she toddled away.  Had I not seen it go down, I would have no idea what had happened to that clip.

So what was that all about?  What on earth was going through her mind when she did that?  Does she really not like that particular hair clip?  Is it really painful and she's been trying to tell me but I don't speak whatever language it is she thinks she's speaking and have failed to grasp her pleas to chuck it?  Or was it totally random, a simple experiment in limb extension, in picking up and dropping?  Or is she just a nutter?

Let me tell you why I think the last option is more than just an amusing thought.  When I was a wee dot, a bit older than Edie, but not much, my big sister lost a tooth.  It was just before school time so Mum told her to leave it on her dresser and they would put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy that night.  At some stage in the day, I tottered up to my mother's dresser, probably in much the same way Edie did to the dishwasher, and picked up the tooth.  Now I obviously don't remember any of this and no one actually witnessed what happened next but family legend goes a little something like this: I reappear in the living area and tell my mother, "Mum, there's somefing up my nose" (apparently 'th' was a struggle for me at this stage in my development).  Mum asks me what it is and I tell her I am unsure.  She gives me some motherly placation and I accept it.  But I return a few minutes later and repeat my announcement.  "Mum, there's somefing up my nose".  I don't know how many times this happens but after Mum had heard this a few times with little result, and inspection shows no obvious raisin or bead up my nose, she asks me to show her where I got the 'fing' from.  I take her to her room and show her the now-empty space on the dresser where Natalie's tooth had been sitting.  The penny drops but Mum is still a little confused as there is no sign of the tooth in my nostril.  She asks what I did with the 'fing'.  I answer, "Well first of all, I did vis [pick up imaginary tooth and put it up my nose], and ven I got veese [pick up pair of sunglasses and open arm] and did vis [shove arm of glasses up nostril in a ramming motion]".  Silence.

Do you now see why I'm wondering about Edie's hair clip episode?  What possibly possesses a little person to shove a tooth up their nose?  What possesses them to go further and use a foreign object to really shove a tooth up their nose?  What possesses a little person to force a hair clip behind whiteware?  All those connections being made in their wee heads - so much learning (and craziness) happening all at once.  It's fascinating!  I'm hoping Edie continues her random explorations, although I hope she does so without having to need medical intervention from a massive pair of surgical tweezers, for example.  I can't wait to watch her do other crazy shit.  I don't mind losing the odd hair clip to a good cause.