The Thanksgiving Trolley
Today, the day before Thanksgiving, Hannah peeked into my office and said, “Mom? I’ve been playing with cushions. Would you like to see what I made?”
November 2007: Playing in the leaves.
She waited and watched for my answer. When I said Yes, she ran off in the direction of the basement. I followed at a slower pace, but when I rounded the top of the stairs, she was at the bottom of the stairs looking for me, to make sure I could see her and catch up.
She pointed to the sofa with its reorganized cushions and said, “It’s a trolley.”
I smiled and pointed out a few things I noticed about it. Then I asked, “Does it have a bell?”
She hesitated a moment, then her eye landed on the tag and she pointed to it with a little grin. “Yes! There’s the bell,” she declared.
Now, that little scenario is huge! When you break it down into RDI-type language, she demonstrated mastery of these social-interaction principles:
- Seeking approval from someone else for something she did
- Referencing where I was and regulating to wait for me to catch up
- Explaining information she knew but I didn’t
- Coordinating with my imaginative suggestion (“Does it have a bell?”)
And if you break it down into regular language: We have a lot to be thankful for!
