At 15 months old now, he’s starting to play a bit more. Or rather, he’s starting to define his play more. He is inventing the games we play more, instead of just playing along with us. It touched me the other day, how he was starting to hide his toys from me and ask me where they went. I’d look around for the little sheep or pig - then when I couldn’t “find” it, he’d show it to me and laugh and get a big kick out of it. He’s showing a lot more initiative.

He’ll initiate a game of hide and seek. He likes chasing people around. And being chased. It is fun, to be caught by him, and have him immediately sign for “more”. It is great positive feedback that he likes what’s going on. Despite the fact that we’re really working on his spatial memory by having him search through the house. He’s pretty good at not checking the same place too many times. He’s also coordinating all his senses better - with each other and with his problem solving. Seeing him bend down to look under things is really pretty cute.

This aspect of his development is great - seeing him enjoy himself is a great thrill. Yet it brings to the forefront for us the balance between the styles of rote training versus using the world and experience as the learning tool. We’re still experimenting with what the balance should be. And by “should” we mean, what he really prefers. I’d like to think we’ll keep it somewhere in the middle, as both approaches seem to have benefits. And still, even the Domans stress that you must stop the flashcards before your baby wants to stop. That the babies need to see the cards as a game, as something fun. So they aren’t completely opposing viewpoints.

It just seems to be the heart of it all is to keep learning as a fun activity for the baby. If we do that, it ends up being fun for us too.

Tags: parenting, play, child development