Isabelle8-18 months

1. Describe and give examples of changes in your child’s exploratory or problem solving behavior from 8 through 18 months and categorize them according to Piagetian and information processing theories. Note that 8 months is included, so you'll need to use the time-line to look back at 8 months for examples.

Isabelle has been getting so big. She is so mechanical. She enjoys sitting and working on puzzles and building blocks. She is very mellow and likes mellow activities. I have been trying to stretch her interests so she can learn to play with other kids. So I take her to the park and to play groups. I have again tried the object permanence test on her and she did so well! She enjoys finding the object and doing it over and over. She is getting really good at it. The last time I tried it she liked the game but didn’t get it every time and was more easily distracted. Another thing she is doing, she plays with a ball and throws it against the wall constantly and each time watching where the ball goes, she is so smart, she even does it in different directions to see where it goes. Sometimes it even hits her in the face and she cracks up laughing. She is showing Processing theories when she throws the ball against the wall or she is building puzzles. She is not showing much interest in music, she likes it but isn’t all that inclined to the dancing to rhythms. She is showing lots of interest in exploring the world around her by wanting down to run around and look at things. She is my little explorer, Isabelle has to be watched at all times or she will run of and get into trouble. She already climbed on a chair when I wasn’t looking and fell off and got a concussion. She keeps me on my toes.

2. Analyze your baby’s temperament in more detail at 18 months than you did at 8 months. How would you describe your baby in terms of the five aspects of temperament utilized by the Virtual Child program (activity, sociability, emotionality, aggressiveness vs. cooperativeness, and self control)? Has Isabelle's temperament been stable over the first 18 months? A blurb defining and providing examples of the five aspects of temperament is provided at 12 months, but you should seek out further explanations of temperament from your textbook. Explain how the concept of goodness of fit (also discussed in the blurb on infant temperament) applies to your interactions with your child.

Isabelle’s activity level seems to be lower than some. She likes quite pass times, playing with blocks and building puzzles. Isabelle is social with people she knows well, she plays well with other children, but is slow to warm up to strangers. I would say she may be a little on the introverted side. We will see what happens as she gets older. Isabelle is an emotional girl, like her Mommy. She gets excited when others are excited and when she is mad…look out…When she is sad she cries… she is getting better at handling her emotions but still has a hard time getting control of herself which I think will develop with maturity. Isabelle is pretty cooperative with other kids and isn’t very aggressive unless provoked by another child taking a toy she throws tantrums with me sometimes but it’s the usual trying to control the situation to get her way. This also leads into her self control; we have to work on getting her to communicate what is bothering her instead of losing her temper. So to deal with this she goes on time out when she is unable to get a hold of herself and continues to throw a tantrum. As far as goodness to fit, she is more of a quiet and to herself child that likes to play with blocks and puzzles, so I play puzzles with her and try to see if I can get her interested in other activities, I can see in the future, trying to go with her more often instead of push her to be active… I guess I should be thankful she isn’t hyper never stopping. I just want to make sure she is learning all she needs to be at this age.

3. Were you surprised by anything in the developmental assessment at 19 months? That is, does your perception of your child's physical, cognitive, language and social development differ from that of the developmental examiner? Give specific examples. If you were not surprised, write instead about some aspects of your child's development that need the most work.

I was a little surprised by the by the developmental assistants comment that we need to work on communication with Isabelle and try to read her reactions a little more closely. She thinks Isabelle is securely attached but we just need to communicate a little better, which I can see since she can be easily irritated at times. I am going to try to work on our interpersonal communication so we can have less frustration when we are having a difficult time communicating.