My Smushy Cousins!

         This week, as we were learning about the physical development during infancy and childhood, how funny would it be that my aunt came to visit with her 7-week old, Chaya, and her 13-month old, Shayna. Because we had just learned about the different instincts and stages of these periods of time, I was able to practice for real on my baby cousins.

         The newborn, as we learned, is born with innate reflexes. I was able to see each of these reflexes with Chaya. She displayed the gripping reflex, where she grasped anything that was put in her hand, and in this case, she gripped my finger. She also showed the stepping reflex, when my aunt put her feet on a hard surface and she lifted her legs one by one. She also showed the rooting reflex when I was holding her, because my arm was pressed onto her cheek, so she opened her mouth for food. I put my finger in her mouth, she clamped on hard and started to suck, otherwise known as the sucking reflex. She also did the Babinski reflex, when I touched the bottom of her foot and her toes curled up. The only reflexes that I didn't see were the tonic neck reflex, where an infant goes into a "fencing pose" with one arm curled up with the other sticking out, and the Moro reflex, where an infants entire body spazzes when there is a loud noise.

         With Shayna and Chaya, I saw aspects of motor development. As Chaya is only around 7 weeks old, she can't support her head very well, though she can lift it up slightly when laying on her stomach. Because Shayna is already 13-months old, she can already roll over, hold up her head, sit without support, and crawl. She also stands with support and pulls herself up to stand. She walks holding on to things, though we were all hoping that she would start walking while she was here.

         On Friday night, my family all ate together at my grandparents' house, and I told my aunt about maturation. Maturation in psychology is different than what maturation usually means. Here, it means the process that any human needs, all the same steps and all in the same order, and once you reach one step, you cannot move on to another until you are physiologically ready. According to parenting.com, if a child reaches a milestone late, it is best to just be patient, as it is normal for milestones to not go exactly according to the textbook. If one milestone is late, it is likely that the others will be a little late too. As long as the milestones aren't coming at drastically different times, then it is fine.

http://www.parenting.com/article/motor-skill-delays

My smushy cousins! (Shayna on the left, Chaya on the right)