My Scientist

I cannot remember if this is normal 3 year old behavior or not, but Nicholas is consumed with spraying, squirting and dumping out any sort of "product" that he can get his hands on.  The second I turn around he is looking for something to dump out.  This has included but is not limited to; sunscreens of all types, lotion, shampoo, any type of bath stuff, hair gel, playdough and glue. Those are all I can remember but I am sure that there are more. 

One day I left him in the tub splashing around with his toys, while I answered the phone. Before anyone gets hot and bothered about turning around with a 3 year old in the tub, this is a kid who swims like a Russian Michael Phelps. He goes all around our pool, off the diving board, swims to the bottom of the deep end as often as he is allowed.  It is quite safe to leave him in 6 inches of water in the tub for a minute.  When I returned...he had squirted an entire bottle of baby lotion into a bucket I use to rinse the kids hair. He was adding some green shampoo to to the concoction and was mixing it with a bath toy.  Lovely!!  Last night we were outside barbequing and he sprayed an entire can of sunscreen all over the patio in little globs.  He had also used the sunscreen to spray onto the side of the counter and stuck a little toy onto it. Apparently he has come to the scientific conclusion that sunscreen can also be used as glue.  

He once squirted an entire large bottle of Elmer's glue all over the kids desks downstairs in the playroom.  He then stuck all kinds of paper onto that.  The playroom has double french doors with glass panes that separate it from the family room.  He locked the doors from the inside so we could watch him "at work," but not get in to stop him.  He just looked at us and smiled. 

What is up with all of this spraying and squirting?  Do all three year olds do this?  I have tried to explain to him that this stuff is expensive and he is wasting things that our family needs. Besides, he is making a huge mess that he has to help clean up.  None of this has deterred his obsession to squirt.  Any thoughts?  I may have a chemist on my hands.  Or just a really curious kid?