Nov 12
Everyone,
Isn’t that the most interesting question? A few months ago, I actually looked through my mail. I know, I’m not the best at getting let alone going through my mail. (E or otherwise.) But one day I did and I had a postcard from NIH. They were doing a study to see what babies were thinking. I did a language study at the University of Maryland with Butterfly a few times and I thought this would be fun.
We did our second session with them today. The first time, the boys sat and watched different pictures on a tv screen. They seemed to enjoy it and were good boys who didn’t cry or hardly even move. Boy they are easy going.
This time, they put sensors on their wrists and on their backs and gave them different weighted objects that look the same. The sensors are to measure their arm movement. It was interesting to see their different personalities come out during the tests.
Pirate was so interested. The researcher would give him a toy and he would study it, eat it, study it some more. And when the researcher tried to take it away from him to do the next toy, he would hold on for dear life. When she did get the toy, he would watch it all the way back to the box and kick his legs in excitement when the toy was coming towards him. So intent the whole time. His eyes miss nothing.
Professor was a little more annoyed by the toy taking. He kept up a steady stream of talking while he had the toy (yes, even with the toy in his mouth) and kept up a steady stream of crying when the researcher took the toy away. He would reach out to her, his blue eyes tearing up, lower lip quivering when she took it and by the time she put it in the box he was full fledged crying. Eyes closed, face red, hand dramatically up on his head. But the instant he saw the toy in front of him he would stop, grab it, and talk. So funny. She had a hard time getting him to take the last one. He kept reaching for it and then looking up at her suspiciously. It was very cute.
They are so unique in their personalities. I find it so interesting to see them together and see how well they compliment each other but are almost opposites. It’s interesting to see how Butterfly has an impact on their lives too with the whole toy taking away responses.
Anyone that has a baby 5-8 months old in the area can email me and I can put you in touch with the researcher at NIH. They pay you twenty dollars. Sweet!
Safire
PS- Almost didn’t post today. I started this early this afternoon and am now finishing it close to 11pm. Juice has gone away on business and I’m working it solo here for a bit. I miss him because there was a huge cricket in the living room. As much as I tried to ignore it, it was being stupid and kept jumping into the wall making a small thudding noise that was awful so I had to take care of it myself. The horror!
Safireinfant studies, Juice's Travel
Feb 23
Everyone,
Finally, Butterfly is well! No cold + no cough + no puking = wonderful! She stopped throwing up on Saturday and stopped having diarrhea on Monday so it’s been much better here. We’ve had a full week.
On Wednesday, I went down to the University of Maryland for their Infant Studies program again. This time I went to the linguistics department. They showed her a short video about talking, and she got to take a book home. No big deal. They did have a little baby face that laughed in between segments of the video and she LOVED it. The researcher said that she kind of got a sad look on her face when the baby would go away. They had me fill out what she says from a sheet of 638 words. Final tally was 304, plus she says some words that aren’t on the sheet like purple. They said typically they don’t see that many words until kids are 2-2 1/2. So we officially have a talker. 
One exciting event on campus was that I almost got a ticket. I was parked in their parking space waiting for someone to come down and give me a parking sticker so I could legally park there. Butterfly was playing in a near by grassy area. The campus police pulled up, and started checking out my car. I told them it was mine and they looked at me, glanced around the car for Butterfly, and went away. I never knew having a child could save you from a parking ticket.
Thursday I babysat because I didn’t on Monday and Tuesday (my regular days). Monday the dad stayed home, and Tuesday the Mom stayed home. She had a make up class on Thursday so I did my normally thing at her house. Butterfly was so happy to get out of the house and play with Miss Long Hair. And both girls were very good and helpful that day. It was nice.
Then today we ventured out to the Swedish box store and had a great time wandering around. We had lunch there (where she ate half of my meatballs and an entire pb&j plus half a lingon berry tart and milk and a fruit cup…think she has her appetite back?) and I only spent 60 dollars which is amazing for me. I also found the bed I want to get her for her big girl bed. (No, I didn’t buy it.) It’s an expandable bed and has rails that go right onto the bed itself. It’s serviceable and basic looking. But we can dress it up by painting butterflies on it or something.
Well, Juice is home from work early and Butterfly is still napping so I’m going to help Juice throw the ball for Soot. Bye!
Safire
Safirebabysitting, infant studies, shopping
Nov 17
Everyone,
Today Butterfly and I went to the University of Maryland to participate in an infant study they were doing. The study is run by grad students in the psychology department. They have set up the
waiting room with toys, games, diapers, and all sorts of kid friendly stuff. The girls were fun and engaging. I wanted to hire them as my babysitter.
After Butterfly and I played a little bit in the waiting room, we went into a small back room where they had a puppet stage set up. One of the girls was on the ‘stage’ and they had a curtain and a camera set up. I won’t say specifically what were studying (they asked that I not) but they were very good. They wanted her to look at an object and when she looked away for 2 seconds, they put the curtain back up. My baby has a super long attention span. For an 18 month old. It is short at home, but play this game with her and she will stare for minutes at a time. The girls even commented on how long her attention span is. I got bored with the test. She didn’t.
It was a really cool experience. I think they will send me the results of the study when they are finished with it. They gave Butterfly a toy to take home, and they will call me if they start a new study. I want to do it again. We both had some fun. I got to learn a few things about baby psychology (they are very visual learners at this age, and will touch everything to connect it in their brains…I never thought about that) and she got to play with a bunch of really nice girls that were focused on them.
Of course, I ended up getting on 495 going the wrong way. I went 10 miles before I realized it, and had to turn around. Of course, it was Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. 10 miles one way was no big deal. 10 miles on the outer loop meant 45 minutes. So I spent 2 hours in the car trying to get home. It wiped me out. But it was worth it.
Next time I’ll know to go north instead of south. No trips to Richmond for me.
Safire
SafireButterfly, infant studies
