Remember Weebles? Those little toys from the seventies that, according to the ads and all empirical evidence as well, “wobble but…don’t fall down”? Well, the secret to their amazing ability to remain upright in the face of ridiculous amounts of force, was simplicity itself: there was a weight at the bottom which, as soon as the opposing force was no longer exerted, simply required gravity to bring the egg-shaped toy to an upright position.
Well, Weebles may have been able to wobble without falling down, but little boys aren’t quite so talented. When they sit, they tend to fall over. Lately Eric has been able to sit for longer and longer periods, but always at some point his doughy little abs give out, and over he goes. As long as mom and dad are looking slippy, no harm is done. Every now and then, though, he manages to topple all the way over, which is a rude shock to the poor lad.
But that time seems to be fast drawing to a close: last week, when he had his official school portrait taken, one can see a cleverly arranged piece of fabric covering what must be the steadying hand of the photographer’s assistant to keep the little boy upright. Had we been able to take the portrait this week instead of last week, however, there might have been no such steadying hand required. Tonight he sat on the floor with mom and dad for about 5 minutes with only the slightest waver every now and then.
How does he do it? Well, the answer seems to be in the inherent stability of the tripod. A tripod is a very stable structure. One leg can be shorter than the other two, but it braces itself very nicely nonetheless. Eric’s sitting posture is basically a version of the tripod: butt down, both legs splayed out for balance, and he does fine! A little wobble here and there, but, weeblesque, he returns to upright more often than not.
Red mangroves use a strategy that is somewhat similar to tripodding: it sends out prop roots all over the place, to deal with the tidal energy of the coastal environments where it’s found. It’s not found on high-energy shorelines like the beach zone of the Atlantic coast, though. The tripod is not that stable! But the extended bracing network of these roots does allow the tree to resist tidal flow with relative ease, and trap the sediment that washes in or out with the tide to build up an island by accretion (much the same way dune plants build up dunes by accretion of wind-blown sand).
Tripodding is also the name our pediatrician gives to Eric’s locomotive strategy. Apparently it’s fairly common for babies who are not quite ready to crawl to do the next best thing: get both feet/knees down, butt in air, and then push shoulder and head into the ground (the third leg of the tripod). This tripod position then allows you to roll/flail in one direction or another. It’s not precise, but it is somewhat effective. Mom and dad now have to look very lively when he’s on a bed, a changing table, or other surface that might tempt him to explore his newfound, but oh-so-limited, range of motion.
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