Jasmin needs to see something only once to grasp it. She
then sets immediately to trying to imitate what she has seen and usually masters
the skill rather easily. If she does not, it can only be said that she is just
1 year and 2.5 months old. Her experimentation at skills is a delight all the
same.
It is clear to see that Jasmin understands her world
instinctively. She simply gets the way things function. She needs little trial
and error to get it right. There are many examples. She was able to attach a
magnet to the fridge and getting the right side so that the magnet indeed
attaches and does not fall, on the first trail. No other cousin or sibling has
achieved this so fast. We have a Smurf magnet puzzle on our fridge, Jasmin
likes to pull the pieces off and then put them back on the fridge. All toddlers
in Israel have these puzzles and like to pull of the pieces and re-attach them.
But only Jasmin used the fold of her shirt as a pocket for the pieces she
removed, like storage. Although she is not old enough to put the puzzle
together, she is already trying to do so.
With more simple puzzles it is clear she understands the
concept of attaching two pieces together to create an image. We have the Fisher
price box with a lid with shaped holes (circle, square, and triangle) and she
immediately copied me after I showed her once that the shapes fit in the holes.
With a similar toy She tries to push all shapes into the square (into which
they all do fit), but if I show her another shape (try to push the triangle
into the triangle sweetie…) she will immediately do as I suggest.
It is clear she understands what she is being told. I asked
her to return a magnet that fell of Jonathans score board of good deeds and she
immediately picked it up and returned it to its place. When I asked Jonathan
one morning to get dressed, Jasmin started pulling at his shirt. Ever since she
saw me sitting on the balcony, she wants to open up a resting chair when we go
out there. She even knows one reads a magazine in the restroom (I saw her try,
while sitting on a stool in the toilet aside her brother…) Did I already
mention she is just 15 months old?
When visiting the neighbor from across the hall she knows
where the cookies are in the kitchen and points clearly in their direction to
request a treat. At home she points every morning to the cornflakes box on the
top of the fridge, thus asking daily for her breakfast. When she sees me pick
up my bag, she knows I am leaving and asks to be picked up and taken along (or
protests in tears when I do not comply). When we go out to kindergarten every
morning, she knows to take her small bag, and even takes that of Jonathan as
well…
My mother showed Jasmin how to ride a toddler’s bumper car
(so called Bimba in Israel) and she was immediately off! My mother set her
astride the contraption and she was pumping legs and driving off in no time at
all, never once bumping into walls as she took turns and corners. It took a day
of practicing to climb and sit on the car by herself without being assisted. On
the second day she was speeding through grand mama’s garden as if she was born
to drive! A professional by all baby standards, and that in just a day and a
half.
My parents came over to babysit Jasmin this evening and my
father used the opportunity to repair a sliding door for me. In the process of
doing so he was obliged to use Jasmin’s wooden stool. She came to look out for
her property. Every time the stool stood free (or my father…) Jasmin sat on it.
My father would then take it and use it, and when it was free again, Jasmin would
sit again. Then she watched as her granddad hammered and screwed and she
immediately needed his tools to try the hammering and screwdriver twisting
herself. My mother calls Jasmin the professor, because it is so clear that she
really does know everything…
On her way! Unterwegs!
