Max Discovers His Dark Side

Last night, during Max's usual pre-bed burst of energy, Ian and I beheld our child engaged in some peculiar behavior. He crawled over to the blank wall where our bookcase used to stand (it is now packed up -- the bookcase, not the wall), lowered his head like a charging bull, touched his forehead to the wall, raised his head like a leaf-seeking giraffe, then sat up and began smacking the wall with open hands. I had just begun to fear for his sanity when Ian said, "I think he's playing with his shadow." Which is exactly what he was doing. With the bookshelf in the way, and furniture blocking every wall (at least as high as Max can see), Max has never before had an unrestricted, undistorted, perfectly backlit view of his shadowy self. He stayed by the wall for quite awhile, slapping, head-butting, and kicking his own silhouette. I can't decide whether this indicates a healthy self-love, since Max is obviously drawn to his shadow, or a disturbing tendency towards self-abuse, since the shadow was the unfortunate victim of so much aggression. Time will tell, I guess. Time will tell.