Cognition related
Vn71.1 Tic Tac Toe (7) 8/25/77 This material provides Miriam with an opportunity to exhibit what she retained of instruction in the previous tic-tac-toe session (cf. vignette 61, 8/10/77). Where Miriam fails to elect a winning strategy (game 3), I subsequently demonstrate how she should have played, then provide the opportunity for her to turn …
Vn70.1 8/22/77 Over the past few weeks, Robby has shown an interest in playing frisbee. Miriam has tried to play with us but has been so inept that the game always became a squabble. Robby usually argued that since the frisbee was his, he should choose the players for the game. It was an obvious …
Vn69.1 Chatterbox 8/19/77 In Vignette 3, I noted one of my objectives was to render Miriam more willing to reveal her thoughts than was formerly the case. Such a change has gradually but very definitely taken place. Gretchen now complains that Miriam is never quiet, that she talks about every least action she undertakes; for …
Vn68.1 Continuous Quantity 8/18/77 As is the case with many who have a few fine things, we hardly ever use them. Our silver and china are in some dark corner, our Venetian glassware sits empty, hardly touched. At dinner our common wine goes into common wine glasses. Through accidents at table and sink, the usable …
Vn67.1 Think and Do 8/17/77 I asked Miriam today if she had read all the stories in the book Friends, Old and New (the book used in initially assessing Miriam’s reading ability in Miriam at 6). She thumbed through the book, said she hadn’t read them all, but found the stories just too easy. What …
Vn66.1 Pre-History 8/16/77 For some unknown reason (“I just wondered,” she says), Miriam asked me who was the first person to sail around the world. Remembering the Straits of Magellan and that it must have been the major obstacle to the western passage, I speculated that Magellan must have been the man. Gretchen, drawing on …
Vn65.1 Arithmetic Ripples 8/13/77 1. Miriam brought me this morning a dime she had found in the laundry. My speculation is that it had been left in some pocket, fell out in the wash, and was pinned in and nearly cut in half by the washing machine. How it got on the floor where she …
Vn64.1 Jumping Rope 8/13/77 Miriam began jumping rope after we moved to Massachusetts. Earlier she had played a game ‘Angels/Devils’, a group rope jumping game in which a child in the center of a ring turns, saying alternately ‘angels devils angels devils. . .’ until one of the children in the peripheral ring fails to …
Vn63.1 Another Birthday Party 8/12/77 This was a party for Robby’s Boston friends, boys he has met while at school here. With respect to planning, this party was pretty much a rerun of the party in Guilford (cf. Vignette 53). The party favors were the same: Hershey bars, bubble gum, and balloons. Match box racers …
Vn62.1 Multiplication 8/7 & 11/77 8/7 Robby has many times now seen Miriam on my lap receiving some instruction in addition. Complaining of feeling left out, he has asked for help in math. Robby said he needs help with addition of numbers such as 9 plus 6 and 8 plus 7. I found him a …
Vn61.1 Tic Tac Toe (5) 8/10/77 This material shows Miriam accepting instruction at corner opening play through a process of “turning the tables” on me after my exemplary victory. (The data were transcribed as Home Session 15.) A corner opening in tic-tac-toe is the strategy of choice, since its use nearly guarantees victory for the …
Vn58.1 Owning an Angle 8/4/77 As far back as the end of June (in Logo Session 32) making hexagonal mazes has been a part of both children’s Logo work. Before our Connecticut vacation both children worked together generating pictures of mazes (7/8/77: Logo Session 36). During that session, Miriam “discovered” the 60 degree angle input …
Vn57.1 Desserts 8/3/77 When I was a small child, there was rarely dessert in my house. On special occasions my mother might make some rice pudding or tapioca (when cooked, the large size tapioca became transparent balls we children pretended were the eyes of frogs). When my children pester after every meal for dessert, I …
Vn53.1 A Birthday Party 7/28/77 Robby’s birthday comes in August. Connecticut friends whom he would like to have at a party can not come to Boston. When he suggested an early party during our vacation, we agreed. Preparations for the party focused on choosing activities and procuring treats and prizes. If you have ‘prizes’ at …
Vn51.1 Paper Ships 7/25/77 This has been a rainy, midsummer day with both children at home in an acoustically live house. Having slept ill last night, under pressure of the noise and our common confinement, I went to bed early. When the children failed to fall silent instantly, I “yelled” at them, i.e. I told …
Vn50.1 The Go-Cart 7/25/77 Kept inside on a rainy day and with me working in the living room, Robby and Miriam were constrained to play quietly (more or less) in the kitchen-dining area of our Connecticut house. Since we vacationed in an unfurnished house, they had few of their usual toys and a limited selection …
Vn49.1 Finger Counting 7/24/77 At lunch, I inquired of Miriam how she used to add on her fingers numbers like 2 plus 7. After saying ‘9’ and my refusing that answer, she counted up, i.e. Miriam said ‘7’ then lifting her pinky and fourth finger on the right hand, ‘8, 9.’ I again rejected the …
Vn48.1 Tenable Explanations 7/23 & 25/77 7/23 We drove to town late in the afternoon. In the clear sky, Miriam could see a bright half moon (I could not from my seat). “If you were on the moon, Daddy, what would happen when it got skinnier and skinnier? Would you get bumped off?” I couldn’t …
Vn47.1 Losing a Tooth 7/20/77 Miriam lost her first baby tooth today. The fact is easily stated, but to show how Miriam considers this a watershed defining event in her life requires some elaboration. About a month ago, Miriam visited the dentist. The occasion was the existence of a small abscess above a dead tooth …
Vn46.1 Rotten Hints 7/19/77 Two years ago, Miriam took swimming lessons. She was in the class of ‘Blueberries.’ Their course of instruction amounted to splashing at the edge of the lake. Their most advanced achievement was to say their names with faces held in the water. Last year, in our move from Connecticut to Massachusetts, …
Vn44.1 A Boring Session 7/12/77 Riding home after this morning’s session (Logo Session 38) Miriam said she thought the work was boring today. When I asked why, she said, “Oh, I don’t know.” I have to look otherwheres for an explanation. Today I tried to exhibit for Miriam the relation between closed polygons and in-going …
Vn43.1 Binary Counting 7/7/77 At dinner this evening, the topic of counting on fingers arose. After performing some finger sum, Miriam turned to Robby with 2 fingers of her left hand raised and all the fingers of her right and asked: Miriam Robby, how much is this? Robby 7. Miriam No. It’s 25. Tricked by …
Vn41.1 7/5-7/77 Whenever we ride to Logo in the MG, Miriam has a standing request that we follow Memorial Drive down past the underpass at Massachusetts Avenue. The children like the magnification of their voices provided when they shout in a closed place. Over the past several years, we have agreed that they may do …
3V0398.03 First introduction to pictures of herself. (3/01/79) Late February – Pictures and Names (a reconstruction) Carrying Peggy back from the balcony, when she pointed to some pictures and requested them, I turned Peggy to pictures of her hanging above the balcony entry. I was trying to distract her attention to pictures beyond her easy …
3V0398.02 Identifying toys and pictures of foxes; classification possible insight; (nominal date 2/28/79 added) Late February – Foxes: (a reconstruction) Before videotape session P57 (a day or two before) Gretchen sat with Peggy on the couch in the living room. Gretchen was ‘reading’ Baby Animals. Peggy pointed at the Fox on the cover and said …
3V0398.01 Shaping and imitation (2/24/79) Perhaps two weeks ago, Peggy had a cookie. In the process of consumption, a rather large piece was broken off and dropped. I retrieved it for her and handed it back. she took this piece in her free hand and immediately tried to match it to the main body of …
3V0388.01 Hiding from sight and relocating things (2/14/79) For weeks now, when playing with objects taken from my pockets or my writing table, Peggy has delighted in hiding them. her characteristic move is to put a pen, for example, underneath her leg on the seat cushion or, the usual case since she is on my …
3V0387.01 Peggy varying elements of a transient game; like phrases 2/13/79 Wooba wooba — Peggy hates to have her face washed or her nose wiped. But she does like to take things out of my shirt pockets. Her usual pocket-picking targets are pens or pipe stems. Today, with my having two shirt pockets, she discovered …
3V0385.01 Peggy’s nose; two element phrase from idiom variation 2/11/79 Peggy sat on my lap, and Miriam, feeling left out, demanded the same privilege. Gretchen has been naming face parts with Peggy for months and Peggy cooperates by reaching out to touch her nose when Gretchen asks, “Where’s my nose?” Miriam asked, “Peggy, where’s my …
3V0384.01 More verbal specificity; productive uses of signifiers 2/10/79 Returning from a three day trip to Boston, I have Peggy in my lap more than usual. At one point, she indicated she wanted Miriam’s belt which lay near by on the floor: /zIt//zIt/. I gave it to her. Peggy chewed it over, and because I …
3V0380.01 Need for specificity expands repertoire of signifiers 2/6/79 Peggy drives [us] to distraction. A few weeks ago when her talk was all /[th]aet/[th]aet/ and her pointing restricted to pictures, the talk was endurable, but now that it is coupled with specific objectives Gretchen and I are subject to streams of /[th]aet/ and /hae/[th]aet/ and …
3V0377.01 Neat phenomena and instruction: An Ale Bottle — (2/03/79) Peggy has long had the habit of carrying ale bottle. We separate glass trash for recycling and Peggy has long been able to careen over in her walker, select one she likes, and continue charging about the ground floor waving her prize. She usually puts …
3V0376.01 Example of insensitivity to obvious features of objects (2/2/79) Peggy sits in my lap, often playing with my pipe. Today we sat near my very small table with its clutter of writing implements. Peg took one pen and began poking it into the pipe bowl. Casting her eyes over the clutter, she spied a …
3V0369.01 More putting on: multiple objects (1/26/79) I usually sit working in the midst of clutter, a table on one side, a tall stool on the other. When sitting in my lap, as this morning, Peggy points here and there, say /thaet//thaet/, thus she comes in possession of my pipe, my pens or whatever else …
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 …
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 …
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.)
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 …