From the Mouths of Babes

Marc is on call tonight which reminded me of day in December when Marc was also on call. As he was getting ready to leave for his long overnight shift, I got all weepy. Pregnant women are allowed to do that. Marc gave everyone a hug then went out the door. Gabe came over and sat by me on the couch, put a hand on my knee and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? What do you want?"
"Oh," I said, "Mommy is just sad because I don't want Daddy to leave. I want him to stay home."
"Mom," Gabe replied in his most patient let-me-explain-this-to-you voice, "Daddy is a doctor. He has to go to work."
"Yeah Mom!" piped in Elijah from the kitchen where he was coloring a picture, "There's always more sick kids!"
I started laughing as my own words of comfort came back at me from the mouths of my 3-year-olds. They really can be very adult and profound when they choose to be.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Sometimes, it seems as if they comprehend everything. At other times, I wonder if anything I say or do lodges in their brains at all.
How can a little person spout words of wisdom one moment and then throw a screaming tantrum the next moment because one of their Cheerios fell on the floor?
Is there a switch in their brains which gets toggled throughout the day? Is there a quota on higher function usage so that one can only have a certain number of rational acts in a given time period? I really don't know. Where is the research on this? Since there seems to be a lack of research, I've started keeping field notes on the behavior of 3-year-old boys in their natural habitat. I've made a list of behaviors and tried to categorize them as Rational Good Citizen Behavior (RGCB) or Crazy Feral Wolf Behavior (CFWB). Maybe we can find some patterns. I also have some that are ambiguous, maybe you can help me figure out which category they go in.

Rational Good Citizen Behavior
1. Elijah showed Gabriel a scab on his foot. Gabriel exclaimed "Oh Elijah! You have an owie. That looks like no fun. Let me see it." Gabe then proceeded to do a thorough examination of the owie including checking for tenderness and reminding Elijah not to pick the scab off.
2. Elijah has lately taken responsibility for holding David John's hand whenever he needs help going up or down a couple of stairs or when we are outside and there is potential for running down the driveway toward the street. He always says in a kind voice, "Come on David John! Let me hold you hand." David John prefers to hold Elijah's hand over mine.
3. When Gabriel was sent to time out for purposely grinding into the floor yet another piece of cereal with his cowboy boots he responded, "Yes Mom. You are right. I need a time out." When he got to his room he even pushed any toys out into the hall so that he was not violating time out procedure. He shut the door and asked me to start the timer.
4. After nap time yesterday all of the boys got some jelly beans. David John rapidly consumed his and then started crying because they were gone. Elijah gave David John fully half of his jelly beans so that David John would not be sad.

Crazy Feral Wolf Behavior
1. After waking up at 6 AM, Gabriel clawed Elijah's face because "Elijah keeped saying that it was too dark and it was not wake-up time yet so I had to scratch him."
2. Elijah started a physical fight over breakfast because of a difference in opinion about the lyrics to the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Apparently knowing whether the song says "Out came the sun" or "Up came the sun" is of prime importance.
3. Gabriel asked for some cereal (Cheerios and Kix) just so he could throw it all over the floor, put on his cowboy boots and have a romping good time making satisfying crunch sounds and grinding the cereal into a fine powder which I then had to sweep up.
4. Elijah frequently tantrums when he drops something on the ground. (Today it was a fruit snack and then later a crayon.) Ironically, when he tantrums he also falls on the ground crying and moaning but seems unable to retrieve the item sometimes inches from his hand.

Ambiguous- please help classify
1. Gabriel dumped out two decks of cards in the living room for seemingly no reason. I asked him why he did that. His response, "Mom, I had to dump out the cards so I can pick them up and get money." I've never paid him to do a job, but maybe this the beginning of business sense? Create a demand and then meet it?
2. Gabe and Elijah discovered that some rubber stretchy toys they have will stick to the ceiling if you throw them hard enough. The tricky part is getting them down. Elijah thinks he has a system. He gets a stick horse and waves the stick part in the air in the general direction of the ceiling. Although the stick actually comes nowhere near the height of the ceiling, eventually gravity kicks in and the rubber toy falls down anyway. The funny thing is that Gabe and David John both get Elijah if their toy is stuck on the ceiling and ask him to "get it down".
3. Elijah dropped a black-eyed pea on the ground during dinner on Monday. He wanted to retrieve it, but couldn't locate it. "Here," said Gabe, "let me help you." Gabe got one of his own black-eyed peas and threw it on the ground. "Now you can pick it up," he said. However, before Elijah could get it, David John pounced on it and ate it. Gabe was about to throw yet another on the ground when I stopped him.

Okay people. Theories? We could make some serious money if we can figure out the cause of Crazy Feral Wolf Behavior and eradicate it. Although, there is something endearing about the insanity too.