reaching and grabbing
I can't think what to write. I walk around doing errands thinking up blog posts, or falling asleep composing them, so I have something to say. I forgot what it is, and I forgot how to say it, too.
I'll start with today. Well, today starts with yesterday. Nathan Deuel came from Riyadh for a couple days, and yesterday was our only full day with him. I hosted a 'bumps and babes' meeting in the morning, with about 11 babies and two bumps in our living room! Iola smiled graciously at all of them, and then fell asleep twice. In the evening we three went running, and iola strolled in her jogging stroller, the one from Melanie and Mom that we call the SUV. Then John and Nathan went swimming at the beach. They said the water was cold -- a first of the season. We ordered Persian food and ate late, and then Nathan and John sat on the couch and talked about writing, and I sat at the computer and wrote.
Day before yesterday was Iola's first experiment with grabbing. She reached out and grabbed Jackson's neck hair, and then, intrigued, kept moving her hands up towards his ears, grabbing all the way. Jackson turned and gave her a warning bite, grazing her delicate skin. She paused just long enough to inhale a sufficient amount of air, and then shrieked. She shrieked three times, then gasped, then calmed down.
Later, while walking to the store, she grabbed hold of my purse. But she hasn't grabbed anything since then. She also doesn't seem too alarmed by Jackson, though. In general, her arm movements seem more intentional. It takes so much practice to get it right. Three months of constant hand-waving.
I'll start with today. Well, today starts with yesterday. Nathan Deuel came from Riyadh for a couple days, and yesterday was our only full day with him. I hosted a 'bumps and babes' meeting in the morning, with about 11 babies and two bumps in our living room! Iola smiled graciously at all of them, and then fell asleep twice. In the evening we three went running, and iola strolled in her jogging stroller, the one from Melanie and Mom that we call the SUV. Then John and Nathan went swimming at the beach. They said the water was cold -- a first of the season. We ordered Persian food and ate late, and then Nathan and John sat on the couch and talked about writing, and I sat at the computer and wrote.
Day before yesterday was Iola's first experiment with grabbing. She reached out and grabbed Jackson's neck hair, and then, intrigued, kept moving her hands up towards his ears, grabbing all the way. Jackson turned and gave her a warning bite, grazing her delicate skin. She paused just long enough to inhale a sufficient amount of air, and then shrieked. She shrieked three times, then gasped, then calmed down.
Later, while walking to the store, she grabbed hold of my purse. But she hasn't grabbed anything since then. She also doesn't seem too alarmed by Jackson, though. In general, her arm movements seem more intentional. It takes so much practice to get it right. Three months of constant hand-waving.
So there's this interesting thing where little kids learn to reach and grab things with a feed-forward motor program. That means they're figuring out how a certain pattern of muscle contractions (or nerve impulses) will translate into a start and end point for their hands. It's called "feed-forward" because the child's brain uses a set of muscle commands that are worked out ahead of time-- and then her arm and hand end up wherever they may. It's fire-and-forget, more or less.
So kids refine this feed-forward technique over the first six or seven years of life-- eventually they get pretty darn good at it. But around age 7 or 8, they suddenly become less coordinated. Then they gradually get better again, until they're as skilled at reaching for things as they were the previous year. And after that, they get much, much better... I don't remember when you reach your maximum level of coordination, but it might be during the teenage years.
In any case, researchers think that at about age 7, children switch over from the feed-forward model to one that incorporates more feedback control. In other words, the children start to figure out how to combine visual cues with the feeling of how contracted each muscle is-- and then use those data to update their movements, as they make them. So they work out a plan of muscle commands, and then adjust those commands on the fly.
It's a much better system, but it's hard to figure out-- which is why kids tend get a bit less coordinated at some point, before they get better.
Anyway, it sounds like Iola is working on her feed-forward movements. I suppose getting bitten by a cat is another form of feedback-- I'm curious to hear if she learns her lesson.
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I know that, eventually, human hands and arms go much further in their fine motor skills, but I have a question (Mr. Explainer): why does it take us 3 months and horses 45 minutes to figure out the feed-forward? Horses have 2 more months in the womb so maybe it only takes us one month longer. One whole month, though.
Counting down the days to see you... do you want to come with me & iola to boogie babies class? Very uncoordinated dancing.
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Good question! I'm only talking about reaching movements, towards specific targets. I know horses can reach out and paw at something with their hooves, but can they do that from birth? Reaching and grabbing, or even pointing, at an arbitrary point is a lot more complicated than walking (or trotting) around-- When Iola learns to walk all the computation will be taking place in her spinal cord: left-foot, right-foot, left-foot, right-foot. Doesn't work so well if you have weak bones and tiny leg muscles, though.
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hah! bravo for continuing to write -- and being charitable to john and i in your gentle description of our rather indulgent couch-bound bloviating as compared to your quite real tapping. great seeing you guys!
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not bloviating at all! I was listening.
I went with a whole different pair of shoes, even more partyish than those others. Bright red strappy diamond-studded... I think Abu Dhabi has gotten under my skin. Then I got a bright red shiny manicure.
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