Cognition related
3V0910.01 Color names again — properly typed but idiosyncratically applied (7/20/80) It’s absolutely clear that Peggy knows a number of color names and knows that they apply to some quality of an object. To me, it appears as though she uses color names correctly, in re. parts of speech, etc. but that she has not …
3V0908.01 A swimming pool: caution at first encounter(7/18/80) We visited this day my cousin’s house in Cherry Hill. Her son, Matthew, a week older than Peggy, nearly drowned in their swimming pool about a week before our visit. We were all very sensitive to the event. Peggy had never seen a swimming pool before and …
3V0899.01 Toilet training: a first success (7/9/80) Peggy had a wet diaper and asked me to take it off. “Take off diaper… don’t hug me…take this off…. I have to do something.” She took her little toilet, set it in the middle of the room, pissed in it, and emptied the pot into the regular …
3V0893.01 Excuses: [No. I’m keeping my ears warm.] (7/3/80) Miriam returned from Boston with a hat I bought her, like the one I bought Robby the week before. The hats are too large for the children unless adjusted to their minimum size. While Peggy ran around with her head submerged in Miriam’s hat (which Robby …
3V0882.02 Counting: pauses at places where sequence goes wrong (6/22/80) Peggy was up late last night. Around eleven o’clock, while Robby played with Miriam, I heard Peggy counting to herself: “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,…eight,…twelve,…nine… ” (where the dots represent short pauses).
3V0882.01 More on “crack” and “bang”: [It DOES say ‘crack’] (6/21/80) Peggy sits across the room from me, reading “The Calculus Affair.” A few moments ago she read at the end of the book, “I love him and that one. I love Snowy and Captain Hack-uck.” (pointing at the pictures) I agreed Snowy was a …
3V0876.01 More role articulation: (toilet training) (6/26/80) Peggy has been much engaged with toilet training (mainly from social pressure plus a little direct instruction). For example, when I called home from Boston last week, she was so proud of herself she explained having taken off her coat and dress and that she had pissed in …
3V0865.01 Counting with Mimi: alternate counting game (6/5/80) Miriam announced a game she and Peggy have been playing – a game of alternate counting. Miriam and Peg count alternately: M1, P2, M3, P4, M5, P6, M7, P7, M8, P9, M10, P11, M12, P12 6/8 note: Peg fast count from 4-11 by herself in the other …
3V0862.02 Beginning reading: reading from Puppies book (6/2/80) reconstructed from a journal entry of 6/2/80 ) When Peggy offered to read to me (“Daddy, I read you”), I joined her on the floor. Her specific reconstruction of three pages via pictures were these: TERRIERS: “Once a morning, puppy want a dig a hole (this reflects …
3V0862.01 Roots of reading (6/2/80) Peggy has started reading to us. It began last night when I came to bed and found Peggy reading a Tintin book to herself. She offered to read to me, open[ed] to the first page and began: “once a morning, a ship (was) in the water…” then closed the book …
3V0856.02 Need to document funny reasons: we should do this (5/27/80) After we had just put up some screen doors, in a context I no longer recall, I asked Peggy why she had closed the screen door. She replied, “Hard…other side open.” This is not a good example of anything — but it does point …
3V0852.02 More imitation: (Bob with cast on leg, using Rob’s boot) (5/23/80) Peggy was playing with one of Miriam’s old cowboy boots. She put it on one foot and stumped around remarking, “I have cow boot. I have a cast on my leg.” [bob had broken his foot on Good Friday, and has had a …
3V0851.01 Inappropriate color names: red and blue are green also (5/22/80) Peggy is sensitive to color as an important descriptor. She interprets color names as such and uses them in her speech — but the application is all wrong. Her favorite color term is green — she applies it generally (and with no obvious uneasiness) …
3V0846.02 Directed speech: Peggy in multiple roles and reading (5/17/80) Peggy found the other day a toy candy dispenser with a rabbit head on top. Today she sat on the floor, playing with it and reading the Britannica ‘Thinking’ book. She asked the rabbit: Peggy: Wanta read it to me rabbit ? Rabbit: That’s a …
3V0841.01 Causation: {Scurry did it. She bumped my head.} Under her overlong bangs, I noticed a bruise on Peggy’s forehead and asked what had happened to her. She replied, “This? (pointing to bruise). Scurry did it. She bumped my head.” (This is not a quotation but records the sense of what she said.
3V0839.02 L” missing (5/10/80) Peggy played with her magnetic letters and plastic tray. After inserting in all their holes the letters available, she pointed to the space for “L” and said “L missing.”
3V0839.01 Assimilation example: dragon/’snake’ (5/10/80) Miriam brought home from the library a recording of “The Hobbit.” Pictured on the cover is the dragon, ‘Smaug’ (as Tolkein notes, a “low gothic joke.,” the past participle of “smugen” to extrude from or through a hole). No one, I believe, has even mentioned dragons to Peggy and no …
3V0836.01 Imitation of role: (bob in chair, chasing away kids) (5/7/80) Peggy was sitting in Bob’s big recliner, reading. When Miriam came along, Peggy said to her, “Go away, Mimi… I trying to work.” At about the same period or slightly later, she chased Robby out of that same chair, telling him to leave because …
3V0829.01 Counting; conventional now to six (4/30/80) Robby and I discussed Peggy’s counting and he informs me she counts now beyond four, to six, quite conventionally. He has waked and heard her counting in her crib “one, two, three, four, five, six, nine, ten” This is further evidence of the influence of hide and seek.
3V0827.01 Reading: naming and describing (4/28/80) When Peggy reads pictures, she primarily identifies, i.e. names the characters. Thus in Richard Scary’s books, she might exclaim, “There’s lowly worm.” Encountering some rarer figure, she asks “Who’s that?” Beyond naming, Peggy has begun to go on to interpretation of the pictures, describing what the character is doing.
3V0825.01 Words and pictures: [Peggy read pictures. Daddy read words.] (4/26/80) Peggy has taken a fancy to an old issue of National Geographic (she looks through it for the “ladies”). she brings it over to my chair, climbs in my lap, and asks (expects, commands) to be read to. Sometimes I ask her to read, …
3V0824.02 Hide and seek (4/25/80) Miriam and Peggy play “hide and seek” — and Peggy’s imitation is prominent. The place she picks to hide is always where Miriam hid immediately before. Counting has resurfaced as an issue in this context. Peggy hides her head and counts (1, 2, 3, 4…) then runs to find Miriam. …