Child development; Infant psychology; Motor ability in children
What was in the little mind? Was she beginning to discriminate and
compare, for the first time setting apart as two separate things the
two faces that had bent over her oftenest? Or was she simply using, on
the most convenient object, a new power of adjusting her eyes, which
filled her with serious interest by the new clearness it gave to what
she saw? At all events, she would not have looked from one to the other
with such long and attentive regard if she had not been able to focus
both faces, at their different distances; so that I felt sure the power
of accommodation was really there.
But there was more in the incident than just the advance in vision.
Hitherto when the baby had turned her head to look, it had been only
at something that she had already a glimpse of, off at the edge of the
field of vision. Now she turned to look for something quite out of
sight,--something, therefore, that must have been present as an _idea_
in the little mind, or she could not have looked for it. And in view
of what I have said of the mother’s face as the great educational
appliance in the early months, it is worth noticing that it was this
which gave the baby her first idea, so far as I could detect.
We come a step nearer, too, to true memory, when the baby can keep
thus, even for a few minutes, the idea of something formerly seen. It
was still mainly habit memory, however. She looked for an accustomed
sight in an accustomed place, bringing it to the point of clear vision
by an accustomed movement of the neck muscles. There was no evidence
till considerably later that she was capable of remembering a single,
special experience.
The next day she was singularly bright and sunny, smiling all day at
every one. She stopped in the middle of nursing to throw her head back
and gaze at the bow at her mother’s neck, and would not go on with the
comparatively uninteresting business of food till the bow was put out
of sight. That night she slept eight hours at a stretch, longer than
she had ever done. Was the little brain, perhaps, wearied with the new
rush of impressions, which came with the new power of focusing?
The day after she would lie a while unusually silent and sober, looking
about her and moving her hands a little; then she would fret to be
lifted and held against one’s shoulder, where she could hold her
head up and look about. She was able now to hold it up a long time
by resting it for a few seconds every half minute or so, against my
cheek, which I held close to give her the chance. But to-day she was
not satisfied with having her head erect: she persistently straightened
her back up against the arm that supported her--a new set of muscles
thus coming under control of her will. As often as I pressed her down
against my shoulder, she would fret, and straighten up again and set to
work diligently looking about her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account