Thursday, January 08, 2004
Matthew does all kinds of cute new things, but he still surprises us regularly as we see him making connections about the world around him. We have an ongoing problem with him getting into Rory's food dish and popping some in his mouth. Since these hard pellets are a choking hazard we try to keep it out of his reach. (He does share the food though - I saw him take a piece out of Rory's dish and drop in front of Rory, who was nearby, for him to eat.) So far Matt has only seemed to go for Rory's food when it is conveniently in reach - he doesn't seem to go looking for it.
Anyway, I was at my desk while Matt was wandering around, and I saw he had a "cat-who-ate-the-canary" look on his face when he came around the corner. He also looked like he had something in his mouth, so I checked and, sure enough, he had a piece of dog food in his mouth. I got it out of his mouth and checked to be sure Rory's dish was out of reach, which it was. I assumed Matt had gotten a stray piece from the floor, and went back to my desk. A few moments later, Matt rounded the corner with the same look, and had still another pirce of dog food in his mouth. I go that out, wondering where he had gotten it, and saw that Matt immediately turned around and headed back in the direction from which he had come. Since he was not upset to have the dog food taken and the purposeful way he took off, I followed him. He made a line straight for the closet by the bathroom, and I knew exactly what was going on. Matt had hit the mother lode and discovered the big bag of Rory's food we keep in that closet. He has never before shown any interest in that bag, but now he was delightedly reaching into it and pulling out all the pellets he wanted!
Matt was not happy to have me shut the door to the closet and cut off his "snack" supply. For my part, it was another amazing example of Matt's growing resourcefulness. I remember when Drew was at this point, and he seemed to learn things at a remarkable pace, when I think he was really just integrating many different things he had been absorbing for most of the previous year. Matt is also showing a great deal progress in understanding us and communicating what he wants to us. It's just incredible how much kids learn about the world without any explicit teaching. Letting kids explore and experiment (as long as it's safe to) makes them little scientists making up hypotheses, testing them and drawing conclusions. Simply amazing!
Anyway, I was at my desk while Matt was wandering around, and I saw he had a "cat-who-ate-the-canary" look on his face when he came around the corner. He also looked like he had something in his mouth, so I checked and, sure enough, he had a piece of dog food in his mouth. I got it out of his mouth and checked to be sure Rory's dish was out of reach, which it was. I assumed Matt had gotten a stray piece from the floor, and went back to my desk. A few moments later, Matt rounded the corner with the same look, and had still another pirce of dog food in his mouth. I go that out, wondering where he had gotten it, and saw that Matt immediately turned around and headed back in the direction from which he had come. Since he was not upset to have the dog food taken and the purposeful way he took off, I followed him. He made a line straight for the closet by the bathroom, and I knew exactly what was going on. Matt had hit the mother lode and discovered the big bag of Rory's food we keep in that closet. He has never before shown any interest in that bag, but now he was delightedly reaching into it and pulling out all the pellets he wanted!
Matt was not happy to have me shut the door to the closet and cut off his "snack" supply. For my part, it was another amazing example of Matt's growing resourcefulness. I remember when Drew was at this point, and he seemed to learn things at a remarkable pace, when I think he was really just integrating many different things he had been absorbing for most of the previous year. Matt is also showing a great deal progress in understanding us and communicating what he wants to us. It's just incredible how much kids learn about the world without any explicit teaching. Letting kids explore and experiment (as long as it's safe to) makes them little scientists making up hypotheses, testing them and drawing conclusions. Simply amazing!
