P050

Pointing and Talking, Object Knowledge, Book related behavior

P049

Communication & Pointing, Object Exploration, Family Interactions

P044

Pointing/Communication, Object Exploration

P042

Language Development, pre-Pointing, Object Exploration

P040

P040, Peggy at 9 months (video): feeding Peggy, object choice; pipe-play “talk” (Bob); rolling with and without mirror; standard objects.

P026

P026, Peggy at 6 months (video): before conversation (Bob); mirror Baby; using a spoon; objects on the floor; sibling interactions.

3V0361.3

3V0361.03 Peggy Bites. 01/18/79 SURPRISE — Some time about the beginning of this week Peggy bit me. She was standing facing me, grasping my legs to support herself. Suddenly [with no provocation] and apparently deliberately she brought her head over and nipped the left side of my left leg just above the knee. I could …

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3V0361.2

3V0361.02 Tantrums 1/18/79 TANTRUMS — Peggy has begun to show behavior that I would call tantrums. Typically she is in her highchair, trying to communicate something. As she gets more excited, her verbalizing becomes continuous and insistent. Offered things she does not want, she will grasp them with one hand and toss them over the …

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3V0361.1

3V0361.01 Two words 01/18/79 TWO WORDS — Peggy has long joined /thaet/ with pointing to call another’s attention to some out-of-reach object. We usually interpret this to mean that she wants to either eat, touch, or mouth the object. Peggy likes to take things to herself — cookies or picture frames. The smaller ones we …

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3V0358.1

3V0358.01 Over the Head — body awareness (1/15/79) Peggy has been passing objects behind her for some time (this appears in notes and on video tape). One early attempt with her rattle on a string was to get it over her head. She now does this regularly with whatever is remotely suitable – e.g. the …

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3V0357.2

3V0357.02 Reading 1/14/79 READING — When I tired of pipe play and put them away, Peggy pointed to the book about puppies Miriam has given her. Peggy played contentedly for a minute or a few — then she gave the book to me. I thanked her, admired the book, and returned it to her. She …

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3V0355.3

3V0355.03 Picture Gallery: extensive discussion: 01/12/79 The change in Peggy’s behavior after I mounted our collection of children’s pictures in the bedroom was so profound it marks a watershed in her development. Let me elaborate, and begin by describing that collection of pictures. When Robby was young, I bought a Nikon 35 mm camera and …

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3V0355.2

3V0355.02 Teasing Bob (1/12/79) Yesterday, Peggy and I played on the spare basement bed. We traded pipe stems. I gave Peggy my pipe stem. She chewed on it then gave it back. Saying “thank you”, I nibbled at it and returned it, “Here.” This was repeated several times. Then Peggy, on giving the pipe stem …

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3V0355.1

3V0355.01 Putting into: 01/12/79 After last week’s videotape, wherein Peggy, for the first time, explored putting into of sticks to a cup, I have become more sensitive to her extensions of this exploration – at the table: Peggy’s juice cup has a recessed lid with nipple. I have seen her repeatedly take a cookie, put …

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3V0344.2

3V0344.02 Picture Gallery (a major beginning, vision) Bob put up our file of baby pictures on the wall over the holidays. Peggy immediately noticed their presence. She holds out her [right] hand to them, saying “Da!” and is pleased to be held up close to view them. While we were filming our videotape today, she …

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3V0331.1

3V0331.01 Pointing and Naming. Comprehension evidence. 12/19 POINTING AND NAMING — Today I asked Peggy, “Where’s Peggy’s NOSE?” She brought her hand up to my nose [I don’t remember if she pointed; I think it was the whole hand] and very decisively said, “Da!” NOSE appeared to be the operative word.

3V0329.1

3V0329.01 Pointing and imperative /dae/. Social rich interpretation. 12/17/78 POINTING AND NAMING — Over the last several days Peggy has been VERY cranky. She always wants to be picked up and makes this clear in two ways: she whines or cries; she crawls over and climbs up on your leg. New teeth are definitely coming …

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3V0327.2

3V0327.02 Helen Keller as archetype (12/15/78) Helen Keller situation as extreme exemplar of every infant’s plight.

3V0327.1

3V0327.01 Imitation game, Gretchen and Peggy. (12/15/78) IMITATION GAME — Several days ago Peggy and I were playing a familiar game as she sat in her high chair. Peggy would beat on the tray with the flat of her palm somewhere between two and seven times, then wait for me to repeat what she had …

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3V0309.2

3V0309.02 Emergence of the Pure Point: pointing and eating: 11/27/78; As we discussed Peggy’s experiments with her grandmother at the dinner table, when Peggy pointed with her forefinger alone, I remarked to Edie that such an action was what Bruner called “a pure point” and explained our argument at DSRE awhile back. In this context, …

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3V0306.3

3V0306.03 Pervasive Instruction. 11/24 PERVASIVE INSTRUCTION — Peggy’s maternal grandmother (Edie) has been visiting us for the week around Thanksgiving. Six months ago she played “Clap hands, here comes Charlie” with Peggy and is delighted that Peggy claps on command and gets others to clap by doing it herself. While she sat across the table …

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3V0297.1

3V0297.01 Pointing at Bob: 11/15/78 Yesterday morning I was sitting on the end of the bed with Peggy on my lap. Bob was in his chair, behind and to my right. All three of us faced in the same direction. Peggy was babbling away and when she said /dae/dae/dae/, I asked her “Where’s Daddy? Where’s …

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3V0293.2

3V0293.02 Putting Into (first success of pipe into pocket) (11/11/78) Peggy sat in my lap this morning. I had just come from the bath. As she played with my pipe, Peggy stumbled on a discovery: not only have I hair on my chin but on my chest as well. She tested the attachment by pulling. …

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3V0293.1

3V0293.01 Giving with chewing. Earlier precursor possibilities. 11/11 GIVING — I tried to work in the living room while keeping the fire going and an eye on Peggy. After discarding most potential toys from the small table I put them on, she charged about in her walker, waving the conical peg from her ring tower …

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3V0287.1

3V0287.01 Assimilation of the pen to the pipe giving game. 11/05 GIVING — Out at the soccer field, I found Peggy in my arms and no pipe in my pocket. This does appear to be her favorite toy-with-daddy.) She was not dismayed, however, and took from my pocket this black, felt-tipped pen with which I …

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3V0282.1

3V0282.01 Spoon dropping = food rejection Spoon play – After the edge has been taken off her hunger, Peggy reaches for the spoon as she is being fed. Or she grips the spoon with her teeth, holding it in her mouth until she can grasp it with a hand. Frequently, she plays with the spoon, …

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3V0278.2

3V0278.02 Pipe play: giving as a communication protocol 10/27/78 PIPE PLAY — When sitting in my lap, Peggy frequently ends up with one of my old pipes. (I still carry them about in a shirt pocket and chew on the stem, though I no longer smoke.) These pipes of mine have become a favorite toy …

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3V0278.1

3V0278.01 “Pick me up” gesture as precursor of causality. 10/27/78; When wanting to be picked up, Peggy’s habit has been to crawl to your feet and look up, crying and wailing. Oftimes, we would hold out our hands as she crawled over to show both our readiness and that we wanted her to come to …

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3V0267.1

3V0267.01 Associating Sounds with People. Interesting Action. 10/16 Peggy went through a period of several days where she seemed to associate her sounds with people. The most striking case was ma-ma(repeated an indefinite number of times with no obvious relevant stress on intonational accenting), which she apparently connected with Gretchen. This delighted Gretchen, who would …

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3V0263.2

3V0263.02 Social Selection of some actions Social Selection of some actions as interesting leads to their entering the repertoire. RELEVANCE (of preceding story in V0263.01) — Here we see an accidental correspondence of two actions selected as significant, of interest, to another person. This stumbling upon an interesting new pattern so pleased Peggy that she …

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3V0263.1

3V0263.01 Waving, communication through imitation. 10/12 WAVING — Peggy sat in my lap after dinner. We had indulged in some conversations with Peggy. Robby approached my chair and Peggy said /ae/, flapping both her arms as she has long done when excited. Robby repeated /ae/ and waved his right arm. Peggy smiled then /ae/ /ae/, …

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3V0262.2

3V026202 Wariness of Strangers STRANGERS — Peggy seems now much more wary of others. Frank and Annie Schoeman were here Sunday (10/08); and Peggy would not let Annie hold her but screamed every time Annie touched her. Even with Miriam, who plays with her every day and always wants to hold Peggy and carry her …

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3V0256.1

3V0256.01 Verbal Imitation of “shoe” 10/01 Gretchen left Peggy with me while she made cookies in preparation for the first meeting of Robby’s cub scout pack. After trying to constrain Peggy various ways and failing, I let her roam around the floor of our bedroom/ study. After beating the log carrier with her toy giraffe …

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3V0254.1

3V025401 Miriam naming people for Peggy. 10/03 NAMING — This was one of those bad days for Miriam where her wheezing/ upchucking of medicine kept her home from school. Thus early in the morning she was saddled with responsibility for Peggy. Miriam played with Peggy on the bed and as is frequently the case with …

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3V0248.1

3V0248.01 (9/27/78) Peggy was playing with her ring toy on the bedroom floor. She had two of the bigger rings and was banging them down in an apparent effort to get them to roll. When they did so, she watched most intently. 10/2: Playing with Peggy and the smallest (purple) ring. I rolled it to …

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3V0246.1

3V0246.01 Rejecting food: 9/25/78 Peggy being fed. Deciding she had enough, she stuck out her tongue, full and rounded, effectively blocking off her mouth. At another feeding, she did the same, then looked at me and smiled and opened her mouth for food — (Was it a test to see if she could refuse food …

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3V0245.1

3V0245.01 Everyday prohibitions as source of naming 9/24/78 Peggy was crawling about on the living room floor as Gretchen chatted with a house guest. The floor was littered with her toys and the dog’s. “No, Peggy. Don’t chew on that. That’s Scurry’s bone.” RELEVANCE — The kinds of verbal naming formulae witnessed by Ninio appear …

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3V0239.1

3V0239.01 Naming buttons. 9/18 NAMING — Peggy was sitting in Gretchen’s lap, facing her. She began playing with the buttons on Gretchen’s sweater, first handling them then trying to put them in her mouth. “Those are BUTTONS, Peggy, BUTTONS. Don’t put them in your mouth.” Stopped from playing with Gretchen’s sweater, Peggy turned to her …

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3V0236.2

3V0236.02 Miriam as Instructor (9/15/78) Miriam has been trying to ‘teach’ Peggy to sit up and walk. The latter especially makes me uneasy because I fear her dropping Peggy. Miriam typically props Peggy up on the bed and returns her toys when dropped so Peggy doesn’t fall over reaching for them. I discussed sitting up …

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3V0236.1

3V0236.01 Gretchen and Miriam with “Peggy, come here.” 9/15 COME HERE — Gretchen has been teaching Peggy to respond in specific ways to a variety of simultaneous gestures. When Peggy wants to get up, for example, she usually cries and arches her back. Then Gretchen holds out two arms to her, wiggling her fingers, and …

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3V0233.8

3V0233.08 Dancing, disappearance, and reappearance 9/12 Last night (9/12) Peggy sat in my lap as we played some records I brought back from Boston. Robby and Miriam had been cooped up inside this rainy afternoon, and when they heard some fast jigs and reels by De Danaan, went into their own version of step dancing …

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3V0233.6

3V0233.06 Other Selves in Television and the Mirror 9/12 9/13 (in Guilford) Sunday morning (9/10) we had our first bedroom fire. To permit that I had on Saturday rearranged the furniture so there was none near the fireplace. After that initial rearrangement I set up the videotape and started viewing P 32 to make sure …

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3V0233.5

3V0233.05 Miriam as Instructor 9/12 MIRIAM AS INSTRUCTOR — Miriam frequently gets stuck with the job of caring for Peggy over short intervals of time. For example, she may care for her while Gretchen bathes in the morning. Miriam’s play varies considerably. Sometimes she plays interactively (cf. 8/26); other times she plays with Peggy more …

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3V0233.3

3V0233.03 Understanding the command “No!” 9/12 UNDERSTANDING “NO” — Saturday I sat in my chair trying to write. Gretchen left Peggy on the floor of our bedroom/study while she tended to the wash. Peggy played with the sunlight and shadows made by trees moving beyond the porch and open screen door, then turned her attention …

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3V0233.2

3V0233.02 Peek a boo and the car trunk lid: 9/12 PEEK-A-BOO AND THE CAR TRUNK LID — Wednesday (9/6), when we returned Miriam to school after her appointment with the allergist, Gretchen bought some groceries and left me with Peggy. Peggy was very unhappy, having missed her morning nap and needing a diaper change — …

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3V0233.1

3V0233.01 Peek a Boo, a Central game for Peggy 9/12 EYE CONTACT AND PEEK-A-BOO Peggy has been playing PEEK for some time now, and it is a central game for her, i.e. one from which her knowledge of the world and objects’ permanence is growing outward (cf. notes on 8/26). When we sit at table …

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3V0225.4

3V0225.04 Limits of Debugging and Body Awareness 9/04 Peggy not only crawls now, she goes over obstacles such as arms that are in her way. Playing on the bed, I tried to keep her from the edge by blocking her path with my arm. Since she could crawl over it, I held the arm off …

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3V0225.3

3V0225.03 Miriam Giving the Ring Tower Lessons 9/04 During the last week, I found Miriam sitting on the floor with Peggy, playing with the ring tower. “I’m teaching Peggy how to put the rings on,” she explained.

3V0225.2

3V0225.02 Recognition Vocabulary 09/04 What words does Peggy recognize at 32 weeks? It’s very clear she recognizes her name (and Gretchen avers she has for some time) with considerable discrimination. The evidence is of various sorts. When I fed her last night (pears on the spoon) she was distracted by her rattle and the liner …

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3V0225.1

3V0225.01 Introducing Books. 9/04 A few days ago Miriam and Peggy were together on my bed, i.e. Peggy was crawling all over and Miriam was assigned guard duty. But Miriam was reading her Nancy Drew mystery. To keep Peggy’s excursions constrained, she introduced her to books, explaining, “See, Peggy, This is a book. This is …

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