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April 01, 2008
Quicker Than Dad
Carmen Rose age, a 16-month-old half-back, tried outflanking her Dad to get to the glass cups sitting on the shelf at Barnes and Noble. A fake to the left and a quick shift to the right failed to move Dad from her path. Not to be deterred she tried the next opening, running through his legs.
David laughed as he scooped her up and put her back in her high chair, but even bit of a muffin couldn’t keep her from exploring. It wasn’t five minutes before she wanted down to explore again. Jessica, her mom, explained that she was the youngest of four and the one most likely to keep on trying even when the other kids would have given up. Mom and Dad both mentioned that Carmen had quite a vocabulary for her age and just that morning had very clearly said, “I love you.” I heard the words or at least the utterances most children at this age hear most “uh-uh.” In case you haven’t been around almost two-year-olds lately, that’s the early form of NO.
Children have few words available at this age, but don’t sell them short on what they are learning. Carmen touched everything in her reach; the table, chair, and the handcart for the books. The cups on the shelf continued to be on her list even if she couldn’t get around Dad fast enough to get to them.
Learning comes through two major modes, experience and words. Carmen needs the experience of what she touches, hears and sees. For example, she needs to touch the book cart, feel it, look at it, watch someone use it, and try it herself. She needs to experience all parts of it. Then she needs to have words to go with it. “Carmen, this is called a cart. It’s a green color. The cart carries the books or things that are heavy. See the girls carrying the books on the cart…”
No, she won’t get all of the words, but she will get some this time. When she hears them again, she’ll get more. The third and fourth time she sees a cart and hears the words, she’ll get more. It won’t be long before she will say the word cart when she sees it and because she’s had experience with it, she’ll know what it does.
Carmen is 16 months old and just beginning the process of building a working vocabulary. Watch out, it won’t be long before she’ll be talking her Dad out of the car keys and her Mom into a new dress for the prom.
Posted by Dr Joni at April 1, 2008 06:33 PM