it just happens

Strange things have been happening. We've all heard the nature versus nurture debate, and we all have our stances on it. I do too, but right now I can't think of what my stance is. But this is what I know:

There has to be something innate in little boys and little girls to do things that are "little boy-like" and "little girl-like."

How do I know this? Well, I only really know it on the little boy end, because something phenomenal has happened. My little buddy, Mason, one day picked up a toy truck, put it on the ground, laid next to it, and went "vrroooom, vrooooom" as he moved it back and forth. Now you tell me, how many times have you seen little boys do this? This is something they all do at some point.

No one in our family sat down with him and showed him what to do. He did it on his own. Incredible!

Another innate behavior was displayed today. Mason, who is accustomed to having the world handed to him on a plate, for once, didn't get his way. Captured on video was something the Johnson family hadn't seen in 20 some odd years. Something we called the "Tasmanian Devil Dance," where in one stops ones feet, flails ones arms, jumps up and down, and cries/whines. My sister was the queen of the Tasmanian Devil Dance, and to the best of my knowledge, no one has performed this display for a very long time, certainly not in his little 18 months of life.

So you tell me, how did he learn this?! I think he just learned it. Inherited it, if you will. Like eye color.

Last I heard, someone is looking for the Tasmanian Devil Dance marker in our DNA.