Friday, April 08, 2005

Anything for a chocolate chip

Sim is finally able to move about the house a bit on her own. I had to trick her into it. She's been so determined to walk that she wouldn't even try crawling. All she wants is for me to walk her around and around and around, which kills my back after awhile. I was thinking about behavioral psychology and how you reward the behaviors you want to see repeated and it occurred to me that I could reward Sim's attempts at crawling and perhaps save my back and make her happier (and a little less demanding) if I encourage her to crawl. So, since she wasn't motivated to crawl on her own I surrounded her with wooden blocks. On top of each block, I placed a single chocolate chip. Then, I put the blocks a few inches away but still within her reach and I've been doing it every day. I just move the blocks further and further away. It didn't take very long to teach her. Less than a week. She can move from one room to another now. Her method is funny though. She looks like a baby seal. She drags herself by her arms only and her legs just trail after her. I've noticed increasing amounts of toe action so I think the legs will come into play soon.

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