Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian
Bilbo Baggins was a very young boy.
Besides being a Hobbit protected by hedges of the Shire, he was quite small for his age and too much prone to breaking the edges of the known and wandering into the wild of the untamed forest.
Luckily for him his mother was a Took and he wasn't harshly punished for his little adventures. In fact he would be greeted with a warm smile, sometimes even a giggle when he would appear proudly holding something he would consider to be an elfish artifact full of magic. She would just pick the spider webs that would be entangled in his hair and explained what he was holding.
She had no intention of disappointing the boy but she couldn't have a boy who didn't know anything of the world.
Knowledge was everything. Especially in a world that was inhabited with real magical creatures. She knew enough of the danger. And being so small they had nothing but their wits if danger came their way.
She wasn't so foolish to think that tiny fences would protect them forever. Most of the hobbits allowed themselves to become foolish. But not her son. He would know how to use his mind.
That's why she threw riddles and puzzles his way using them as a rope on which he would often trip if he wasn't careful enough. That's how he learned to watch her closely, waiting for her tricks and traps.
She was strange looking Hobbit. The one that would go as far as Bree in search of news and materials. She would often return from her little trips with strangers by her side. She was the talk of the Shire because of her tendency to befriend strangers. Sometimes she even managed to bring fireworks to their field. That was so fascinating that everyone just pretended that the tall figure behind such fun wasn't there. Bilbo on the other hand was young enough just to stare mesmerized at the shapes and colors that filled the skies.