Might as well jump

Our pet rabbit has a two-storey hutch, with doors that open on both levels. Historically the second level's door was opened just to give him a raisin or a papaya enzyme tablet, but ever since a friend gave us this flexible fencing, designed for outdoor use, we've opened up some of the living room so he can come out onto the floor as he likes, and it's just as easy to leave the upper door open then.

The other day I was giving our rabbit his evening papaya tablet, which is one of the things he likes best in the world, and he was nosing his way out the second storey door to get at it better. I warned him to not poke so far out or he'll fall over, and I barely finished saying that when he did. I must have been anticipating this, because I grabbed at him and caught him by the hind legs just as his forepaws were touching the ground, and we stood there frozen a minute while bunny_hugger saw and wasn't sure what to make of it. After some giggling I set him down, on the ground, and he hopped over to the edge of his pen and I giggled again about catching our rabbit like this, mid-leap.

I'd figured this for a freak but strangely wonderful event, and to make jokes about it unto the end of time. But then the next day as I was giving him his evening papaya he again poked far enough out to fall to the ground. I wasn't ready and he fell uninterrupted. The day after that bunny_hugger gave him his tablet while he was outside, on the ground, so he didn't have the chance to plummet any.

But I have got to wonder: is he starting to see ``leap out and get a papaya'' as a thing? Is he just doing it for the thrill of a big leap? If he is, why has he only been caught doing it when I was giving him papaya? Where's this all going?

Trivia: In 1811 President James Madison submitted a bill to Congress to renew the Bank of the United States. The bill failed in the Senate when, on the tie vote, Vice-President George Clinton voted against it.
Source: An Empire Of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, John Steele Gordon.

Currently Reading: Europe, 1914 - 1939, F Lee Benns, Mary Elisabeth Seldon.