One of the things that fascinates me is evolutionary biology. The people who figure out the why and how evolution led us to something is one of the coolest things to read about.
An example of this is pareidolia. This is the phenomenon where people recognize patterns in the randomness. For example, looking at clouds and seeing animal shapes. Why is this a thing? Well, it turns out that it probably had a good use when we were living in the grasslands evading predators like saber-toothed cats.
I know, sounds confusing, but hear me out. Urgg & Flumm are out in the grass one day, gathering berries, Urgg looks over and he thinks he sees a the patter of the deadly saber-toothed cat lurking in the grass. He runs away. Flumm is more rational and he realizes that it is just the grass waving back and forth. Urgg always runs when he thinks he sees those patterns, while Flumm stays because he is sure it is nothing. Eventually, Flumm is eaten by a saber-toothed cat because he was not skittish enough. Urgg’s genes get passed on and his descendants have that trait that recognizes patterns.
Pretty cool, right? Here is another one. Humans originated in Africa. There are plenty of large animals there, and yet none of them end up being domesticated. For example, why did horses become domesticated, but zebras did not? Well, zebras are not nearly as docile. They panic & run around humans (a little Lion Guard joke there). Those animals evolved alongside humans and their ancestors. They knew not to trust those two-legged monkey things that carried sticks and wore animal furs. This is one of the reasons why humans caused some major extinctions to the large mammals of different continents when we first arrived. The zebras that were scared of humans (and early hominids) were the ones to survive and pass on their genes. Once anatomically modern humans arrive on the scene, zebras knew to avoid them. No domestication for them!
This brings me to my theory. I think the human brain purposely forgets everything it can about the first few weeks of having a new child. Maybe the brain treats it as trauma. I think if you remembered how awful they are during those times and how horrible life will be, most people would just have one kid. So, the people who can forget that stuff end up having more kids and passing on their genes.
Ask any parents and they will say they really do not remember much of those first few weeks. Everything goes by so fast. I am the same way. But then when Logan arrived, I remembered some of the bad nights holding Payton in her room while she screamed for like an hour until she fell asleep. As Logan does the same thing, my brain opens up those memories and says “oh yeah, you have done this before, it sucks, you will get through it.”
I bet in a week or two, Logan will get his days & nights in order and I will totally forget how rough this last week has been. Nothing better than holding a baby in every position possible while he screams for like two hours.
So that is my theory. The brain deletes this information. Makes it a vague memory so that we continue to reproduce. If not, the human species would probably have ended long ago.
Before anyone comments…Logan is great. We love him with all our hearts. And yes, I realize it will get easier, so no need to comment that either. Thanks!
