In a Cheerios commercial a little boy goes running past his grandfather, then stops a little way off and comes back to talk. As I remember all little kids do this all the time, and without being called. When they get older they stop as they approach, not after they go by.
I suspect that younger kid’s minds work differently. Not slower, but more focused on the now. It takes them a few seconds to realize they have something to say to grampa. Maybe they are deciding which they’d rather do, run or talk.
So what’s going on in those spongy little minds?
Peace,
mangeorge
They are kids being kids. They don’t think of things as abstractly as: …ok should I run past grampa then talk to him, or should I stop in front of him and talk…
And they haven’t trained their spongy little minds to work in a “how can I minimize my energy expenditure?” way.
They think. RUN RUN RUN YELL RUN RUN SCREAM RUN RUN YELL YELL RUN…I want to tell grampa I stepped on a worm.
I think you’re right - it’s that they’re so focused on the moment, they’re entirely IN the moment. The kid had no intention of speaking to Grandpa while he was running - only as he passed him did a few neurons fire and the kid thought, “Grandpa might have some excellent advice about my choice in breakfast cereals!” at which point he stopped and ran back - whatever was his actual goal in running was completely gone from his head.
One of the amazing things about little kids is how deeply they feel anything. A dropped cookie is sincerely as heartbreaking as the death of a pet - they have NO sense of perspective or that what they’re feeling right now won’t last forever. And then they see something silly and they’re suddenly and just as entirely giddy with glee. Things move really fast, but there is no ambiguity to their experiences. It’s also why distracting a determined toddler is so bloody hard - if he wants the cat’s tail, the cat’s tail is the only thing that exists in the universe right now, and that block and this book and that bell and those roller skates might as well be invisible; he just won’t see anything other than the cat’s tail. Of course, distracting an aimless toddler is a piece of cake - if they were only kinda sorta interested in the DVD remote, it ceases to exist the moment you show them the red ball.
Second possibility: He’s thinking, “Look at me, Grandpa - I’m running!”
I thought the kid is wearing some sort of superhero outfit, so it’s more like, “Look at me, I’m Marvel Man” or whatever.
I like the part where the grandfather says he didn’t do so well on the last test, and the kid says “You??” in disbelief. Seems smart for such a little kid.
This was a staged commercial, not spontaneous kid behavior.
I’m a grampa, and I love it. We grandparents tend to get all thegood stuff. That’s our job. 
I can tell you the kid will seek the grampa’s attention no matter what it takes. So yes, he’s wearing his idea of a superhero outfit, but that’s in the back of his mind.
Like others said, he’s in the moment, being amazed at grampa.
In a few (too few) years he’ll see the light.
It just amazes me how quickly they can switch focus.
Of course it was. The crew isn’t going to sit snd wait till something like this happens.
But it’s pretty easy to stage something that’s a natural and spontaneous occurance.
OMG. Priceless!
Ain’t that the truth. I maintain the parenting bone dissolves once the grandkids are born. My father fed my kids cupcakes for breakfast one morning. He also took my son to the hardware store where (amazingly enough!) they were also selling Pokemon toys!
Grandkids are your reward for not killing your teenagers.
Reminds me of a cartoon I saw once a long time ago (and have cut out somewhere at home) titled “The Complete Thought Process of a Dog.” The thoughts were: “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that? What’s that? What’s that? Oops. Gotta pee. What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?”