Saturday, January 31, 2009

Trying Things Out

When thirsty, fifteen month-old V frequently walks over to the cabinet where we keep the kids' sippy cups and tries to drink from each one, wondering which one might have water in it. These are the magical water-giving cups, after all. Whenever she asks for water, we bring her one of these things and water comes out.

This behavior shows a transition to more independence. She wants to figure out the water thing for herself rather than asking us to get it for her. And it also shows her growing brain's limitations. While she probably has gotten water out of one of the cups from the cabinet before (as she has been known to return full cups of water to the cabinet), she hasn't really figured out all of the steps yet.

I have no doubt that she will. Her powers of imitation are amazing. Sometimes when the big sisters and I are working on math, we sing a song that is a finger play, holding up our hands and moving our fingers. V holds up her hands and "sings" along each time. She will stop whatever she is doing and participate with the song. It is yet to be determined whether this will improve her math skills down the road. Stay tuned for that one.

What is determined is that I have to be very careful about how I act around this little person, because she is really, really paying attention and she wants to do it, too!

In addition, I will try to pay attention to her and how she learns. It can be so easy to get stuck and not know how to solve a problem. It can be easy to try just one sippy cup and give up, not expecting water to spring forth. But I see her working on it every day, with persistence and hope. Seems like something I should learn from her.

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