May 29, 2001 - Tuesday
I've heard that it's generally excepted that infants and young toddlers play independently whether or not they are other toddlers or adults around. They can play beside others, but not with them. Then at some point, I've heard in their third year, they realize that they can interact and play with others. And, I think I've started to see the first evidence of that in Harry.

Last night, while I was watching him hit his Pound a Ball with his hammer, he stopped and handed me the hammer saying "daddy." It became quite clear that he wanted me to hit pound the balls myself. Of course, I'm sure Harry has been learning to share at his daycare and perhaps this is just a healthy manifestation of that good behavior, so I didn't think too much of it at the time. Then, this morning, the same thing happened with his Tap'n'Turn bench. But, what really struck me was when Harry open the kitchen drawer to get out spatula/hockey stick. At first, he declared it was time for hockey and turned to go find a ball, but then he stopped, looked at me, went back to the drawer and pulled out a second hockey stick and handed it to me, again declaring "hockey." So, after finding ball, we played hockey together, hitting a plastic ball around the kitchen. He was playing with me, his dad.



Comments, opinions?