Satchel Science

"The child is curious. He wants to make sense out of things, find out how things work, gain competence and control over himself and his environment, and do what he can see other people doing. He is open, perceptive, and experimental. He does not merely observe the world around him, He does not shut himself off from the strange, complicated world around him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. To find out how reality works, he works on it. He is bold. He is not afraid of making mistakes. And he is patient. He can tolerate an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance, and suspense" - John Holt (How Children Learn)

Satchel has been experimenting with putting different objects in his toy gumball machine.



In order from top to bottom:

• a bird from his Peek and Put Birdhouse
• a block from his Peek-A-Blocks Crocodile
• a green ball his daddy bought him
  

A surprise came in the mail from Miles today...a birthday Bee, and Satch adores it. See video
*There seems to be a bug in the vimeo program. Some videos get flipped sideways. To view them in the original format, click "download", then"Quicktime (original)" below the still image rather than clicking the play button/arrow.















This age is amazing. Every day there is some new development. Satch now points to things and asks what they are, "dah?" (that?) and we answer his questions. If I ask Satch where his bike or his horse is, he will point to it. He stacks his blocks...up to three high. In addition to giving kisses, he now makes a kissing sound and he has a new gesture that we call "the strong man" that is quite funny. (He squeezes his fists tight and makes a grimace).

This morning Satch was sitting on the floor in the living room playing and I went to the other room to send a quick email. When I came back to the living room (3 minutes later), Satchel was on the other side of the living room STANDING next to the sofa and petting the cat. Please note, that he does not walk on his own yet, but rather holding our hands...nor does he crawl. I imagine that he used the table to pull himself up and held it for balance as he made his way stealthily toward the cat.