I wasn't born stupid, this is just a gift that I've cultivated since I was a tadpole. Millie and I have been writing this blog since April, and, it's official, it only took me nine months to figure out how to illustrate what I'm writing with a photo.
Now that's gestation!
If you look at the picture above, you'll see my dog's heiny sticking out from underneath the bed. That is because my husband was on his way to the shower and had just asked me "Want me to bathe the dog?" - and of course I did; the dog had been digging in the compost heap an hour earlier.
Boatsie, our mutt, speaks English fluently. He heard the four-letter "B" word (that's Bath, for those of you who thought it was Bich) and tried to escape his doom. Being a dog, he doesn't think exponentially, he figures that if he's hidden his head, nobody can see him. Nothing exists from the eyes down if HE can't see it, ya know?
This picture always makes me laugh. I remember the times my kids would bonk their heads, standing up under a table when they were toddlers. No, I'm not a sadist, it's just that imagining their train of thought as they learned that we live in a three-dimensional world, and that part of their 'being' occupies physical space above their eyes.
When does a little person make the connection that there's substance above their eyes?
Peek-a-boo is one of the most important games you can play with your infant, especially if you incorporate it with a mirror. You can peek-a-boo the baby first by covering your eyes and saying "peek-a-boo" and then switch roles and cover the baby's eyes with their blankie. When you lift the blankie off her head, squeal "peek-a-boo" and the next thing you know, you've got baby laughter everywhere.
(Note to parents: only use a security object to cover the baby's head with. You don't want to be paying for therapy into perpetuity).
Then show the baby how to cover his eyes with his little paddy-whackers, remove his paddy-whackers and say "peek-a-boo" again. In no time, your little genius will be playing "peek-a-boo" with complete strangers at WalMart. It's just that simple.
Playing "peek-a-boo" with your infant is a wonderful way to teach your child that just because they can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. A whole lotta learning goes on with this simple game.
My point here, other than it took me nine months to gestate from ignorant blogger to stupid blogger, is that children can learn from an early age that the world isn't always as it seems to them on any one given day. Substance (and brains, for heaven's sake) forms above the brow and below the lid. Closing your eyes doesn't mean that the world disappears, it just means that you've shut your eyes.
More to come . . .
