Year 1, from birth
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
3V0357.01 Putting into. 01/14/79 PUTTING IN — As Peggy sat in her high chair I pointed out to Gretchen how much now Peggy had mastered “putting-in”. First she put her curved spoon in her cup’s cap, removed it, and then she did the same with a pipe stem I had given her to play with. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
3V0354.04 Putting Into (1/11/79) This evening Peggy was playing in our bedroom with a bead bracelet. Spying Bob’s big work boots, she dropped the bracelet into one of them then pulled it over and looked in. As she pulled, the boot tipped and the bracelet slid towards the toe, so she could not see it …
3V0354.03 Walking (1/11/79) By now, Peggy can, under favorable circumstances stand alone unsupported for as long as several seconds. she has also (yesterday) walked several steps, being help only by one hand. In the walker, she has become a terror, running to gain speed, then sliding across the floor (occasionally pushing as on a scooter) …
3V0354.01 Functional Application: using a comb (1/11/78) A day or so ago, I washed Peggy’s hair. As I could not find her little brush, I had to use a comb and a regular baby brush. I used the latter while Peggy held the former. She chewed on it a bit, then held one end and …
3V0354.02 Doctor Visit (1/11/79) Peggy went to see Dr. Merman on the 2nd. He found her to be in good shape, but on the small side. At 17 lbs. 13 oz. and 28 inches, she is in the 10th percentile for weight and the 25th for height. Except for the first month, in which she …
3V0351.01 Comprehension limitations.01/08/79 COMPREHENSION LIMITATIONS — Right before New Year, Bob got the dishwasher repaired and reinstalled. Saturday [?] morning it was running for the first time in 10 days. Coming into the kitchen with Peggy, I listened to the sounds and murmured, “Hurray for the dishwasher.” Peggy immediately raised her hands to her head …
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 …
3V0344.01 Words (foot) 01/01/79 WORDS — I have been saying to Peggy “Where’s your foot?” and she will respond more or less quickly, holding up her foot, pointing, and saying “Da!” “Hand” generally brings out clapping. “Nose” pointing, or more often grabbing for my nose.
3V0337.01 Christmas (12/25/78) Peggy received a few presents today — some new, some hand-me-downs. she didn’t understand the opening of packages. Peggy chewed on her new rattle and dish, but most seemed to enjoy chewing on the box which contained the rattle. The tree with its hanging ornaments caught her attention most — especially the …
3V0335.02 Trapped fingers again (12/23/78) Once again the box got her. Gretchen and I are beginning to be surprised that she can’t solve the problem (ie. fingers caught between lid and sides of the box; second hand leaning on the lid.)
3V0335.01 Naming (Daddy’s nose grabbed – comprehension evidence) (12/23/78) NAMING — I lay in bed this morning during Peggy’s early morning feeding. When she had finished nursing, Gretchen put Peggy down between us. They played together for a while, talking about noses. Then Gretchen asked, “Where’s Daddy’s nose?” Peggy turned around and grabbed my nose. …
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.
3V0329.02 Reflections on putting (12/17/78) If Peggy has yet to distinguish the interior of objects from the surfaces (in the sense of not understanding hollowness, how can it make sense to say that she is putting one thing ONTO or INTO another ? What is required is an imputation of a goal to her — …
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 …
3V0327.03 Trapped fingers bug manifest again (12/15/78) BLOCK BOX TRAP — Playing on the bedroom floor just now, Peggy got two fingers trapped in the [block] box. She could not get them free because she was leaning on the lid with the other hand. This has happened to her a number of times over the …
3V0327.02 Helen Keller as archetype (12/15/78) Helen Keller situation as extreme exemplar of every infant’s plight.
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 …
3V0321.02 Putting on and Putting into (12/09/78) Yesterday I sat Peggy down on the bedroom floor and pointed out the toys. Her blocks box was there, and I opened it up for her. It was empty. Peggy looked, and immediately grabbed a block off the floor and plunked it into the box. True, she picked …
3V0321.01 Peggy Walking Solo, with tea table as crutch (12/09/78) Last night the entire family sat in the living room. Gretchen searched through old files to locate our Encyclopedia Brittanica futures contract; I worried about why the fireplace was smoking (a backdraft through the still open bedroom fireplace chimney). I don’t know — none of …
3V0317.01 Temporal advancement of “thank you” to a command. 12/05 NO “THANK YOU” — Peggy’s use of the pattern has proved transient. She no longer says anything when given my pipe or a cookie or whatever. But the passing of the phrase was marked by an interesting transition shown in only a single incident: Peggy …
3V0309.03 Verbal imitation of “Thank you”: first addition of verbal communication to object based protocol. 11/27 THANK YOU — Peggy has been playing ‘giving’ with her pipe for several days with her grandmother. Edie would take the pipe from Peggy, pretend to puff, and return it with a “Thank you.” Yesterday, as she wheeled about …
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, …
3V0309.01 Standing in the crib; not knowing how to sit down: 11/27/78 Saturday afternoon, when her nap should have been coming to its natural end, Peggy started crying most vociferously and continued doing so until rescued. Going into the girls’ room, Gretchen found Peggy standing in the crib, grasping the top rail for dear life, …
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 …
3V0306.02 Giving dishtowels with vocal accompaniment: Hey Dad! “Hey Dad !” (or /hae//thaet/ ?) 11/24 HEY DAD! — Peggy has played giving games which started with my pipe and rapidly generalized to other objects. Some times [she] has come to me at the table in her walker and offered me whatever object was in her …
3V0306.01 More about pointing; pointing related to sucking: 11/24/78 A few days ago Peggy was chasing Scurry around the kitchen. Using her two forefingers as a probe, she rolled over to Scurry and poked at her nose as the dog backed away. While doing this, Peggy looked at her hand and, studying it, curled up …
3V0300.01 Pointing: no physical carryover; use as a probe-> pointing: 11/18/78 Peggy always points with two fingers. This is so obvious to us we should not let it pass without saying. My earlier speculation that this related to her finger sucking pattern was wrong. The two fingers are a probe. She puts them in Gretchen’s …
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 …
3V0294.01 The IMPURE POINT and progressive structuration: 11/12/78 As observed more generally by Bruner, this infant Peggy started “pointing” around 9 months of age. (confer P40 and P41, I don’t know if earlier tapes contain unremarked examples of earlier pointing). Since the appearance, we have watched Peggy’s pointing more closely off camera. She does point …
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. …
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 …
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 …
3V0283.02 Clear Example of Object Concept crudeness -> prefer gradual elaboration (11/01/78) Relevance: This is another example , albeit a peculiar one, of Peggy having a very crude object concept. she obviously recognizes that objects have an “inside”: This blocks box does — for it can be opened and blocks taken out; her cups have …
3V0283.01 Trapped fingers: a really bad bug (11/01/78) Twice in these last several days, as she played with her box of blocks, Peggy has closed the box lid on a finger. The problem quickly magnifies because she leans on the box with her other hand. Peggy screams and cries; it has been clear that she …
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, …
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 …
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 …
3V0277.01 Rolling Objects (10/26/78) At home alone with Peggy, I brought her from the living room to play in the bedroom while I worked there. Peggy had been playing with tinker-toy connectors of this sort (sketch of wooden cylinder with holes on the top, bottom, and around the side). Even when I put her, sitting, …
3V0275.01 Sitting Up (10/24/78) We have been disinclined to sit Peggy on the floor. We have no rugs because of Miriam’s allergies and when Peggy might fall sideways, she would take a solid crack on the skull. This night, both the older children played in the bedroom and Peggy crawled about on the floor crying. …
3V0271.01 A Walker: social pushiness as instruction 10/20/78 For several weeks, we have discussed buying a walker for Peggy because of her preference for standing and as a device she could use to increase her scope. We have seen them on sale and today bought one. Relevance: The first incident shows Miriam’s intrusiveness, driving Peggy …
3V0269.01 Standing in her crib (Miriam did it) (10/18/78) Peggy has shown much more inclination to stand than to sit. It has been hard even to get her to sit down in a lap. Today, Miriam called out from the girls’ room most excitedly, “Mom, Dad, come see. Peggy’s standing by herself.” And Peggy was …
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 …