One of Sydney’s favorite things in the world is to sit in a spinning desk chair and, well, spin. She’ll climb into a chair and look hopefully up at any adult in the room, and say, “wee?”
Then once you’ve actually got her spinning, she’ll say “wheeeee! wheeeeeee!” with a huge grin on her face.
Bean took this very cool picture of the weee game in progress. That blurry thing on the upper right is my hand giving the back of the chair a push.
Another time, Bean was playing the weee game with Sydney, and Sydney actually fell asleep while she was being spun. (Notice the “Dora” on her shirt; Sydney is mad for anything with Dora on it.)
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That is so cool, and so cute. Thanks for the pics.
This reminds me of a book someone gave me while I was pregnant, What’s Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot, Ph.D. There’s a whole chapter on the vestibular system, which is like a sixth sense for perceiving the body’s balance and motion. The book refers to an experiment in which babies were, I kid you not, spun in office chairs (while sitting on an adult’s lap) on a regular basis.
For practical purposes, this means that the sorts of repetitive motions that babies tend to love: rocking, swinging, bouncing, not only calm babies but also promote neurological development. The book explains:
I’m not saying that I spin my daughter in an office chair in the hope that she’ll grow up to be a groundbreaking theoretical physicist, but it’s always interesting to see modern science confirming the benefits of behaviors that parents have instinctually engaged in for countless generations.
That stuff about the vestibular system is really interesting. I, for one, get very very sick being spun in anything, can’t read in cars or even really trains, etc. When I was a kid I had some fluid taken out from behind my ear (where was it? don’t ask me) that helped my balance a lot, and I keep meaning to go see someone about doing that again. I think for me a lot of is actually the confluence between the vestibular system and my difficulty in focusing with my eyes.
That said, the chair spinning is cute and I wish it were something I could do. She actually FELL ASLEEP while spinning?!?! I’m not sure I believe you.
My daughter sees several therapists, and they’re all really into the whole vestibular system thing. We do lots of “Weeeee!” games and rocking games. Holding her while letting her “fall” way back then swooshing her up again is a favorite, as is Row, Row, Row Your Boat with vigorous rocking. It seems to be working so far!
Great Sydney pictures. Has she been to see Dora The Explorer Live onstage? Ellie saw it yesterday and *loved* it. I think she enjoyed “Free To Be You and Me” even more, though.
My kids only ever fell asleep while eating, which isn’t nearly so cute. We do, however, have a picture of the younger boy when he fell asleep at the table while eating berry cobbler. He’s sitting in the chair with his head tilted back, perfectly symmetrical, and a Technicolor face.
Dryad, thanks for the info! That’s really very interesting. Although to be fair, it must be said that the “instincts” in this case belong as much to Sydney as to the adults around her; the reason we spin her all the time is because – even before she had any language skills – she so clearly enjoyed it.
Sarahlynn wrote:
Thanks!
No, she hasn’t been – I didn’t even know a live Dora show existed!
I’d be a little worried about taking Sydney to something like that – she’s two, and might not want to sit still and quiet through an entire show. How old is Ellie? Was that a concern for you?
Ledasmom wrote:
Funny you should mention that – next week’s “baby blogging” will most likely feature some pictures of a recent chocolate-pudding-related episode which, while not technicolor, nonetheless achieved an impressive amount of facial coverage. (“We only turned away for a minute,” said Sydney’s parents….)
Just so long as it’s only a few spins at a time and not at a high velocity, right? :) I had to put a few ground rules out on the whole ‘whee’ game a while ago because Sydney loves it a bit -too- much. Sydney is and always has been fearless to the point that my fear is intensified hugely.
Amp, Ellie’s two also. She was born in October, so I think she’s not too much older than Sydney.
We took her to see “Free to be You and Me” last summer, and I thought that 1-1/2 was going to be way too young. She was all open-mouthed amazement and clapping the whole time, though. The key is to go to child-friendly shows (like Dora) or kid-specific matinees so that half that audience is under the age of 5. That way, your kid is *never* the worst in the room.
That said, we’ve never gone to one of the really big Sesame Street Live shows. The thought of being in a huge stadium with thousands of toddlers makes me want to curl up and cry.
That’s funny cuz I also put up a post called “Wheee!” last week on my baby daughter’s first experience on a swing.
http://superbabymama.blogspot.com/2006/01/wheee.html
(Yep, shameless blog-whoring going on.)
Ledasmom writes:
I think kids who fall asleep while eating are double plus extra cute.
After we discovered that “Cereal” was an effective sleep aid, we began adding a bit more to tiny munchkin’s diet. The result was sometimes quite entertaining as tiny munchkin would sometimes fall asleep while fully encrusted with baby food. Food-caked babies are very cute. Why I feel this way is a mystery …
Imagine what she’d be like on a merry go round! She is absolutely adorable. I can’t wait until Maddox is a little older and does fun stuff too so we can see lots of pictures of her as well!
I also read that book What’s Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot, Ph.D. I had gotten it out of the library back when my wife first got pregnant. I only vaguely remembered the details, so I figured I’d try to look it up. I found your blog.
Now, we have a 5 week old baby daughter. One of the best calming things that I discovered a couple weeks ago: holding her while sitting and gently bouncing on an exercise ball. She’ll go from fussing to serene in 2 seconds!
-AL