Development Psychology

SESSION 1 - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2006

As I entered the house for my first session, I was greeted by the delighted squeals of 5-month-old Nawfal. I am not entirely sure whether the excitement was due to my unexpected visit, or the birds, squirrels and colourful flowers he could see from his position at the foot of the garden door. While he enjoyed the view, I was amazed by the environmental awareness (p134) displayed by him. On hearing the start-up of crying coming from the bedroom, I knew that twin brother Nayel was in transition to the waking activity (p128). As soon as he heard Nayel sob, Nawfal's lower lip protruded, and he started to cry as well. Researchers believe that this response reflects an inborn capacity to react to the suffering of others (p131). I ran to the room and as I moved towards the crib, I started talking to Nayel, just to make him aware of my presence. He turned his face in my direction, proving that he could precisely locate the sounds he heard (p153). This helped in calming him down (p134), and as I lift him up to my shoulder, he smiled at me, (hopefully) a sign that he recognised me (p314).

When I came out of the room, I found Nawfal watching "Tom and Jerry" absorbedly while enjoying the frozen teether he held in his hand, displaying mastery of yet another motor skill (p143). When I tried to put Nayel down alongside his brother, he protested by "fisting" my shirt in his hand and screeching. I found Nayel to be "conditioned" to the act of getting his way: as soon as he starts crying while in a reclined position, he was picked up by one of the nearby adults. I realised that his behaviour needed modification (p20), so I sat there and talked to him till he calmed down. While I was "scolding" Nayel for being a spoilt child, I noticed one of cutest things about Nawfal - he bent over and started sucking his toes!!

Soon after, it was bath-time. Before giving them a bath, their bodies were massaged with olive oil to relax the muscles. Nawfal enjoyed his massage, as he feels ticklish when people touch him and loves it when his limbs are pulled in different directions. During the bath, he drank gallons of water and ate a fair share of soap as he didn't want to either keep his mouth closed or his hands out of his mouth. Nayel, on the other hand, started crying as soon as he was undressed, which could be due to temperature changes (p131), and continued to do so till he was dried and redressed after the bath.

After their baths, it was time for milk. Nawfal was more difficult to feed because he preferred to play games with the feeder. He would move his head from side to side to get the teat out of his mouth, and then pass social smiles or laugh as I'd start to laugh at his successful attempts to avoid having to drink the milk. Who knew that laughter is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable! Nayel, on the other hand, was willing to drink even when he was full. So where Nawfal wasn't able to finish the 4 ounces, Nayel was successful in finishing off 6 ounces and still wanting more. They were then burped, with Nayel producing a "wet burp" all over my shoulder!! It was disgusting and very smelly, but at least two little babies thoroughly enjoyed my discomfort.

At that point, it had been about 5 hours since Nawfal's last nap. As I put him in his cradle, he resisted the change because he knew that it was nap time. He kept lifting and throwing his legs, a signal that he wanted to get out. But after a few minutes of intense cradle-rocking and lullaby singing, he seemed to be drowsy (p128). Not long after, he fell into R.E.M. sleep but within the next half hour, he was wide awake. As soon as I lifted him out and settled him on the bed, he stretched for about 5 minutes. As I bent down to kiss his tummy, he broke into laughter (p400) and placed both his hands on my head, in an attempt to try and push me away.

While Nawfal was asleep, Nayel showed off the new "tricks" he had learnt. Being the more active of the two, keeping him off the bed and sofa unattended was a safe bet because he could topple and turn very quickly and didn't seem to mind even when his head hit the ground (p143). He was able to roll over 360 degrees within seconds, although he sometimes was unable to free the arm stuck under his body and would return to the original position after struggling for a bit of time and failing to manoeuvre it.

Nayel was also very interested in every little detail of the room he was in (p153), building an "organised perceptual world" as he scanned more thoroughly and systematically. Once he 'knew' where he was, he would switch gears to interacting with the people he was with.

I could tell that Nawfal was awake as soon as I heard giggling from the bedroom. And soon it was time for me to leave. While saying goodbye to Nawfal, I sat down next to where he was sprawled on the carpet. When I wriggled my fingers in his visual field and within reaching distance from him, he grabbed a finger each in both his hands (Palmar grasp, p126) and pulled himself up to a standing position. On hearing encouraging words from me (p143), he smiled and wouldn't let go off my fingers, even after he fell flat on his butt. What a wonderful way to end a day: babies do something new everyday!!

At the end of my visit, I realised that neither of the babies displayed any stranger anxiety (p401), although technically I wasn't a complete stranger. They were able to detect emotions by matching the feeling tone of the other person in face-to-face communication (p411). Nawfal displayed more positive emotions like happiness, whereas Nayel shifted from an angry to a happy baby depending on the situation (p400). According to the Thomas and Chess's dimensions (p412), temperament wise, they both could be classified as highly active infants who prefer novelty and express intense reactions, although that might change from now till the next time I see them.

SESSION 2 - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, 2006

I entered the house to find an extremely irritable Nayel. On inquiring, I found out that he hadn't slept for the past 6 hours, and although he was sleepy, he was fighting it. I turned on some music, to divert his attention (p151). After cradling him in my arms for almost 15 minutes while stroking his hair and pouring honey on his pacifier every 5 seconds, he drifted off into deep sleep. It has been shown that sucking helps babies control their own level of arousal. Sucking a sweetened pacifier relieves pain and quiets a crying infant (p134). I put him down in his crib and covered