My developmental evaluation

Driving past the synagogue today, David said “Bim Bam House!” We sing Bim Bam there once a month. The last time was 3 weeks ago. That one statement from David required a good memory, place recognition, and putting words together in a new way.

Last night he told me exactly what he wanted at bedtime. “Light on” when I went to turn the light off. “Music off” when he wanted me to stop singing to him. And when he decided he was ready for the blanket, he picked it up, laid it neatly across his crib rail for me, and said “blanket on.”

The Batelle Developmental Inventory has a task where you put a strip of masking tape on the floor and ask the toddler to walk on top of the masking tape as if it’s a balance beam. David walks on the actual curving balance beam in the playground with a steadying hand, but that’s not the task. He was happy to race his toy tractor along the masking tape yesterday, but that’s not the task. He was happy to pull up the tape from the rug and throw it in the trash on his own, but that’s not the task. I don’t think the task is for the toddler at all. I think the task is for the adults to explain to a 2-year-old why he should do something silly on command.

Another item on the Batelle Developmental Inventory is a question of whether there are any household chores that the toddler tries to help with. He’s not even 29 months old. Aside from unloading the dishwasher and putting the silverware away, setting the table, fetching syrup from the refrigerator and putting it back again, giving the dog food and water, throwing out trash and recycling, wiping off the table, dusting, sweeping, shoveling snow, and moving toys so we can vacuum, I can’t really think of anything.

On Wednesday, David learned to identify the big dinosaur at the Museum of Science as “T. rex.” That’s an important survival skill.

Last weekend he started counting from 1 to 10. He learned 1, then 1 2, then 1 2 3, then 8 9 10, then 1 2 3 4, and now he can do all the numbers. He’s not entirely solid on them, but a few weeks ago he only had 1 2 3.

Is our children learning? You betcha.