Emerging Language and Problem Solving Skills
posted 08.15.2007 by Kristen

One of my favorite things about watching these girlies grow up is seeing new skills emerge. I don't mean the traditional "milestones" like sitting up, first steps, etc. (though those are definitely cool!); I mean moments where you can actually see their thought processes evolving and maturing.

An example of the kind of thing I mean was this morning when I dropped them off at Ximena's. While I was saying my goodbyes, Natalie said, "No Ximena have f______ arms." Neither Ximena or I could understand the word that preceded "arms"; we could just tell it started with an F. She repeated it several times, and we offered up several possible words she could mean. Ximena was wearing a sleeveless shirt, so I thought maybe she was trying to tell me that Ximena didn't have sleeves.

Generally in moments like these they just keep repeating the word in question louder and louder (but not any more clearly) and they get increasingly frustrated with every word I repeat back to them. (Every once in a while I ask the other one what the first one said; sometimes I can understand it better when the other one says it because the pronunciation will be slightly different. But usually this just results in the other one repeating exactly the same string of sounds with a "Duh!" eye-rolling tone in her voice. Ahem.)

But this time Natalie ran over to a shelf and picked up a stuffed dog toy and said, "Dog have f_____ arm!" She figured out a new way to convey her meaning to me, giving me an example and a visual clue! With this new context, it became totally obvious that she was saying, "furry," and when I said, "No, Ximena doesn't have furry arms," she got a big smile on her face and said, "Just Daddy!" Jim sometimes shows them the hair on his arms and says, "Daddy has furry arms!" but I have no idea what inspired her to tell me that Ximena DOESN'T have furry arms, but she was able to figure out a different way to get her meaning across, and it was just so cool to see the wheels turning in her head.