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The Wonder Weeks

Page 37

by D van de Rijt


  Victoria’s mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  Me and My Art

  After a year-and-a-half, your toddler starts to use toys in a way that signifies that she knows what the toys stand for, what or who they represent. In her play it shows that she is familiar with the people, the objects and the situations from everyday life that are represented by the toys. The toys symbolize someone or something from the real world. Your toddler can play with these symbols in her imagination.

  Her ability to symbolize enables her to create drawings that are completely different from the earlier drawings and that represent something from that real world—for example a car, a dog, or even herself. This new ability to symbolize did not come gradually. It came into being all of a sudden with a leap and is a new quality. Art is born. If your little artist loves making drawings, you will have a hard time keeping her supplied with paper. The beginning of a huge collection is at hand. If she experiences something exciting, like fireworks at New Year’s Eve, it is likely that she will make a drawing to capture the moment.

  Not only does she start making drawings, but she starts building constructions as well. And if you have a little music lover, she will be playing her keyboard and can listen to music for quite a long time and enjoy it.

  “Her drawings are very different now. The scribbles have made way for small circles, tiny tiny. She is really into details.”

  Victoria’s mom, 78th week, or approaching 18 months

  “She now colors in her drawings. She is very precise and hardly colors outside the lines.”

  Victoria’s mom, 79th week, or 18 months

  “He draws horses and boats now and this morning he meticulously drew a circle and a square and then pointed to himself. He had drawn himself.”

  Luke’s mom, 79th week, or 18 months

  “He has started building more, whereas he used to be more into destruction.”

  Taylor’s mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  “He drew a car. It was a good drawing of a car. He can only do this if he is lying down on his side with his head resting on his other outstretched arm. What does his car look like? It’s two circles, the wheels, with a line in between. Circles are ‘vroom vroom’. He also draws airplanes and just recently, legs. A spiral is a steering wheel – a steering wheel turns.”

  Thomas’ mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  “She likes to draw, especially if I draw a bear, rabbit or a pet.”

  Juliette’s mom, 84th week, or a good 19 months

  “She has a Bambi book. In it is a picture of possums hanging by their tails from a tree branch. ‘Hey,’ Elisabeth thought, ‘that’s not right.’ So she turned the book upside down, so she could see it better.”

  Elisabeth’s mom, 85th week, or 19½ months

  “He loves music. He likes playing his electric keyboard. He puts on a certain rhythm to accompany his lead. At the store, he listened to practically a whole CD of classical music. It lasted almost an hour. He was upset when I disturbed him half way through to go on with our shopping. He had to listen to the end.”

  Thomas’ mom, 86th week, or approaching 20 months

  That toddlers in Japan can play the violin fairly well at the age of two is not without reason. Of course, they use special, small violins. In Western culture, not many people are eager to drill their toddlers this early in life in pursuit of such mastery. “Freedom and happiness” is the motto. However, we are not addressing cultural differences here. The fact is that toddlers at this age normally have the ability to learn such things.

  “He said that he was going to draw Grandpa. He drew a head four times and said: ‘Wrong.’ He was not yet satisfied. The fifth time, when he got the goatee in the right spot, he was satisfied and said: ‘Grandpa!’”

  Thomas’ mom, 101st week, or 23 months

  The Evolution of Art

  Art appeared late in the evolution of our species. While we easily consider our evolution to be a matter of millions of years, most evidence for the emergence of art is dated as recently as 35,000 years ago. About that time so many artifacts were found that there was talk of an art explosion. All of a sudden there was a surplus. We are talking about cave drawings, small stone carvings and musical instruments. A very rare find of the remains of a flute dates back 90,000 years. Art is characteristically human. The emergence of art was preceded by a massive increase in our brain size. We are, however, still in the dark about how this came to be. But the notion of self, fantasy and language certainly play a large role, just as the increase in the size of the frontal lobe placed just behind our forehead does.

  Me and My Sense of Time: Past, Present and Future

  Your toddler starts to develop a sense of time now. Her memory of past experiences improves and she gets better at anticipating the future.

  “I can’t tell her anymore in the morning that we are going to do something fun in the afternoon. She reminds me otherwise the whole day until it happens: ‘Now apa ama [Grandma Grandpa] to?’”

  Victoria’s mom, 78th week, or approaching 18 months

  “She makes plans. When we sit down for dinner, she asks if she may draw. I tell her that first we’re going to eat. Then she tells me where her pen and paper will need to be. I am supposed to say that I understand and that it will happen. If I forget after dinner, she gets very angry, and she is offended.”

  Victoria’s mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  “He remembers promises. If I promise that we will do something after his bath, he reminds me. When he wakes up in the morning, he refers to what we did before he went to sleep.”

  Gregory’s mom, 82nd week, or approaching 19 months

  Basic Physics

  If you observe his play well, you cannot ignore that he is busy with the basic phenomena of physics.

  “He dunks things like a ball under water to experience their resistance. He also disassembles a small electric telephone. Now he looks at it differently than he did before, when it just made noise. It doesn’t work anymore after his experiment. He finds throwing things and taking them apart really interesting. He tries things out.”

  Harry’s mom, 77th week, 17½ months

  “She can spend hours pouring some liquid from one vessel into another. She uses bottles, glasses, plates or cups. While she’s busy she likes to add the necessary commentary.”

  Ashley’s mom, 78th week, or approaching 18 months

  “She pays close attention to colors: green, red, yellow. Red and yellow together. I was kidding with her when I told her that it is supposed to be that way.”

  Josie’s mom, 78th week, or approaching 18 months

  “It snowed at Easter. It was his first snow. He was a bit weary and out of sorts. He just couldn’t place it. Wanted to be alone after taking in all the new impressions.”

  Thomas’ mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  With principles, we have seen how your toddler started to “think about thinking.” When he has entered the world of systems, for the first time he can hone his principles into a system, principles that he has learned through experience. It is quite possible that he is doing this while taking his “thinking break.”

  “Sometimes he likes to be alone. He says: ‘bye’ and goes in his room to be alone. He is pondering life. Sometimes he does that a half hour at a time with a toy. Other times he stares and thinks for ten minutes like a 50-year-old. He just wants a bit of peace after having such fun playing. After he has taken his break to collect his thoughts, he returns cheerful, says ‘hi,’ wants to nurse a bit and then goes to sleep or to play a bit. He really needs his privacy.”

  Thomas’ mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  “Initially, he was afraid of the electric toothbrush, but now that he has gotten used to it, it’s fine and he says ‘on.’”

  John’s mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  “She grasps that the train takes batteries, and that they were drained. She went and found new ones.”

  Hannah’s mom, 86th week, or approa
ching 20 months

  “When playing the flight simulator on the computer, he doesn’t treat the joystick carelessly like he used to; he is very aware. He puts the landing gear down right. He checks to see if it happened like he wanted by having the plane climb a bit and then back down.”

  Jim’s mom, 86th week, or approaching 20 months

  Basic Architecture

  His interest in the phenomena of physics extends to more systems than just physics. He is also interested in basic architecture. He can spend hours watching builders, and you will notice that his play will produce more structures since his latest leap, like towers of cups pushed together, and more elaborate structures.

  “My husband cemented the fish pond this week. He explained to my eldest son how to mix cement. He then explained the same to Victoria. Now they are together the whole day long mixing sand and water for cementing. She does everything he does. She looks up to Thomas.”

  Victoria’s mom, 79th week, or 18 months

  “Cars have fallen out of favor. Now it’s more the alternative transportation, like motor bikes, semis, dump trucks, trolley cars. He loves to watch the builders.”

  Mark’s mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  “She was chosen as a test person for new Lego toys for toddlers. She was rewarded for her efforts with an electric train for 3-year-olds. Much to everyone’s surprise, she quickly laid down the rails for the train. She approaches it like a puzzle. The straight pieces are easy. The curved pieces are a little more of a chore. She doesn’t complete the track. It is one track with a beginning and an end. When she’s finished with the track, she put the crossing guard arm on the train and went riding around. It struck me as strange and I said that to her. She didn’t change anything though, which surprised me, until I discovered that she had copied this from the picture on the box, which showed the guard arm on the train just as she had done. She isn’t really interested in running the train, though. She prefers to lay track. She constantly takes the track apart and starts over.”

  Emily’s mom, 82nd week, or approaching 19 months

  “He tries putting the small Lego blocks together theses days. He can’t quite manage because it takes a bit of strength. But he tries. He doesn’t use the bigger blocks.”

  Matt’s mom, 86th week, or approaching 20 months

  Me and My Talking

  Between 17 and 22 months, toddlers start using the adult language system with an explosive increase in the spoken vocabulary and the average duration of a speaking turn. They also start combining words to form sentences. They are now able to distinguish two different languages from each other and ignore one of the two. Furthermore there is an impressive increase in verbal language comprehension around 18 months.

  There is large individual variation in the budding development of speech. Some toddlers don’t use many words (approximately six) about the time this leap takes place. The parents know that they actually know and understand many more words, which causes some irritation. Other children use many words, repeating after you (sometimes just the first syllable) or taking the initiative, but no sentences yet. They can make themselves understood, though, literally with hands and feet. They mime their part. A third group already produces sentences, while they are still miming.

  Understands All, Few Words

  “The words he now uses are limited: ‘cookie,’ ‘bottle,’ ‘ouch,’ ‘thank,’ ‘mom,’ ‘dad,’ ‘bread’ and ‘pel’ (= apple; he only pronounces the last syllable). He understands everything and follows instructions well.”

  James’ mom, 76th week, or approaching 17½ months

  “He puts his arms up in the air at ‘hip, hip, hooray’ and shouts something like ‘oora!’ He knows all the gestures too like ‘clap your hands.’ And if he doesn’t succeed he says ‘oot’ (shoot).”

  Robin’s mom, 76th week, or approaching 17½ months

  “She uses more and more words. Not yet very clearly pronounced, mostly the heavy syllables.”

  Anna’s mom, 79th week, or 18 months

  “He says three words: ‘di dah’ is tick-tack, ‘moo’ is moon, and ‘hi hi’ is horse.”

  Robin’s mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  “She repeats more and more. If she picks up the phone, she says ‘hello.’ The words she says now are ‘daddy,’ ‘mommy,’ ‘up,’ ‘hi,’ ‘bottle,’ ’bread,’ ‘cookie,’ ‘apple,’ and ‘out.’ She shakes her head ‘no’ if she doesn’t want something. She nods her head ‘yes’ if she wants something.”

  Laura’s mom, 80th week, or a good 18 months

  “He doesn’t say much yet, but he understands everything! And he communicates exactly what he wants.”

  James’ mom, 81st week, or 18½ months

  “Now she says ‘cheese,’ ‘boom,’ ‘daddy,’ and ‘mommy.’”

  Anna’s mom, 82nd week, or approaching 19 months

  “He understands everything you say and ask. He is very enterprising, always doing something, walking through the house all day long singing or mumbling something.”

  James’ mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  “She is using some more new words.”

  Laura’s mom, 83rd week, or 19 months

  “He uses more and more words, although his vocabulary is limited. He speaks his own language a lot. This week he clearly said ‘grandma’ to get her attention. The words that he now occasionally uses are ‘grandma,’ ‘grandpa,’ ‘ow,’ ‘hi,’ ‘bottle,’ ‘bite,’ ‘sit,’ ‘me,’ and ‘look.’”

  James’ mom, 84th week, a good 19 months

  “He picks up more and more words. Now he knows ‘dad,’ ‘mom,’ ‘cheese,’ ‘ouw,’ ‘boom,’ ‘ant,’ ‘more,’ ‘di dah,’ ‘moon,’ and ‘sars’ (= stars).”

  Robin’s mom, 84th week, or a good 19 months

  “She imitates animal sounds.”

  Laura’s mom, 85th week, or 19½ months

  “He definitely uses more words now. He answers sometimes now with ‘yes.’ ‘Eese’ (=cheese) and ‘food’ are now part of his repertoire. In general, he’s not yet very talkative. By pointing and a few oohs and ahs we understand him. He gets what he needs.”

  James’ mom, 86th week, or 19½ months

  “She talks a lot and repeats a lot.”

  Anna’s mom, 86th week, or 19½ months

  Understands All, Many Words, A Lot of Mime, No Sentences

  “The most understandable word at the moment is ‘cheese.’ ‘Ird’ (= bird) is also clear. ‘Papa’ he says like he spent the summer in Italy. It’s charming.”

  Taylor’s mom, 72nd week, or 16½ months

  “He talks more and more. Now he likes to make noises with his tongue: ‘llll.’ We play a lot of language games. He loves that.”

  Luke’s mom, 72nd week, or 16½ months

  “A great moment this week was the comprehensive contact we had when we were playing a game making noises. It was really funny. We tried to stick our tongues in and out of our mouths while making noise. Later we tried to push our tongues against the back of our front teeth to produce the ‘lll’ sound as in: ‘Lala.’ She found it exciting and challenging and wanted to do what I did. At the same time, it looked like she was thinking ‘I’ll get you.’ I saw so many different expressions in her face. We both loved it and the laughter grew, especially when she said ‘lala’ spontaneously with a kiss.”

  Ashley’s mom, 73rd week, or approaching 17 months

  “His manner of talking has changed again. Even though his speech is for the most part incomprehensible, it does seem that he is forming more sentences, and I think: ‘Heck, I’m getting this!’ He explains clearly through gestures and words what has happened to him in my absence. For instance, when he was at Grandma’s in the kitchen and I asked him what he had done. He said something I couldn’t understand with the word ‘cheese’ in it, which led me to understand that he had gotten a piece of cheese from Grandma. When asked, he nodded yes.”

  Taylor’s mom, 74th -77th week , or 17 to almost
18 months

  “It looks like she’s talking. She has been curious for a long time what everything is called, but it seems that she has developed in some way. She asks the name intending to repeat the name to herself. Some are perfectly pronounced. Most are only with the first syllable: ball is ‘ba,’ water is ‘wa,’ and breast is ‘bre.’ It is great to hear the sound of her voice. She is proud, too, and repeats when requested.”

  Elisabeth’s mom, 74th week, or 17 months

  “His way of communicating this week was interesting. He seems to be forming sentences in his own language. He keeps it up until I understand him. An example: we walk across the street to the sea for the second time, Luke on Daddy’s back. I had the bag with gear and the sand shovel was sticking out. All of a sudden he shrieks: ‘da, da, da.’ It takes a bit before I get that he means the shovel. When I say ‘the shovel?,’ he says ‘Ya’ and points from the shovel to the sea. I repeat in words: ‘Yeah, we’re going with the shovel to the beach.’ He sighed contentedly and leaned back. We have this type of conversation often.”

  Luke’s mom, 74th week, or 17 months

  “We can now actually have a dialogue. We communicate extensively. What she most wants to communicate to me is her world plan. For instance, track down dirt and then say ‘bah, bah,’ to show that she can find dirt and that she knows what it is and what to do with it.”

  Elisabeth’s mom, 75th week, or a good 17 months

  “She makes sentences that seem like a long word missing some letters. But I can understand her if I pay close attention. She saw that the stop light was red and pointed to it. I hadn’t seen it yet, but heard her say it, and she was right, although I don’t know exactly what she said. Rather strange! It was like she didn’t know herself what she was saying, but did utter some sounds that seemed to fit the picture.”

 

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