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Everyday objects

In addition to his new clapping trick, Luke has started trying to write. He'll grab anything shaped remotely like a pencil or crayon, put one end on the table (or floor, or roundhouse, or paper if I'm lucky) and scribble madly. The look on his face is priceless: a mix between intense joy and concentration. Luckily for me, Eleanor has started bringing him paper when he gets hold of a crayon. I suppose it is easier than making sure your crayons stay off the floor...

This gets added to his sets of "grown-up" type activities. He's figured out that you eat with a spoon, so when he finds a spoon, he tries to eat with it. He knows that when someone has a cup, you put it up to your mouth. When the cup is empty he tips it back. When the cup is full, I am usually holding on to it. He will put his lips to the rim and suck madly, thinking "I know Mama likes this, although I don't know why. If I keep trying, I'll figure it out, I know!" Then he tries to grab the water in the cup.

I love how babies interact with books. Of course I mean board books: babies' interactions with paper books usually involves some tearing or folding. Luke will pick up a book, look at it seriously, work hard to turn the pages. He looks for all the world like he's reading it. Then slowly, not breaking the illusion, he brings the book up to his face...and starts eating it. The illusion is shattered, and Mama starts laughing, so Luke looks up from his chewing and smiles.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You might like this page with Judy DeLoache's research on how young children interact with picture books (about half way down): http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/childstudycenter/researchprojects.html

Even better is her research on scale errors that kids make (trying to grab the moon, trying to ride in tiny cars) - she has videos on this.

FNDP
mathmom said…
Hi Friendly Neighborhood Developmental Psychologist!

Wow, that is neat. The videos were funny! I see why people want to study developmental psychology, especially with babies and toddlers. Their ideas about the world are so different from adult ideas, and by the time we are adults, we have mostly forgotten what our infant ideas were.

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