The self-perception of a toddler

Tiarnan is a toddler - he is but eighteen months old. I wonder, at times, how he sees himself and the rest of the world. Sometimes, something he does or some attitude he takes reveals a lot of what must be going in him. The other day was a case in point.

Tiarnan led me into the computer room, where his brother, Ainan, was at work and pointed at the screen. "Baby!", he said. Ainan knew what he meant. "He wants to see babies.", he said, indulgently and started to type at the keyboard.

As images of babies appeared on the screen, Tiarnan at once started jumping up and down: "Babies!" he said, most pleased to see them. We let him see images of "babies" - some were indeed, babies, others were toddlers like himself. He was delighted at this.

I thought this was both sweet and sad for what it said about how he felt. Tiarnan is not going to nursery, at this moment. Perhaps, in leading me to the computer, which he knew was capable of calling up any and all information, he was expressing a need for the company of others of his own age. He has two older brothers - four years and seven - but, to an eighteen month old, that is quite a gap.

Another interpretation is evident, however, which may, in fact, be the dominant one. Tiarnan simply likes babies: he thinks they are cute. Whenever he meets a baby when we are out, he smiles, goes up to it and interacts with it, much as a mother does to her baby: with an overwhelming feeling of adoration. I think he thinks of babies as very young and cute - not realizing that most of the world thinks of him in just the same way. He too is a "baby" to our eyes - but not to his own.

I feel that Tiarnan thinks of himself as distinct from babies - as more mature and developed - and therefore that babies are the province of cuteness and careful interaction (for he is always careful with them) that takes note of their fragility.

It is funny to watch him with babies - for he is very much like an adoring adult - but actually a toddler, who is seemingly unaware of his own toddler status. It is very sweet.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, eighteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and eight months, or Fintan, four years and one month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, Chemistry, Science, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Tiarnan invents the practical joke.

Many a time, Tiarnan has observed Ainan's dislike of insects.

Ainan jumps at the sudden appearance of a cockroach, or the like, spooked by them in a primordial fashion. It is the kind of instinct many of us are born with, but grow out of through over-exposure to the situation. Ainan, though, has yet to have the time to grow out of this basic instinct, this fear of the unknown, or the alien.

Tiarnan, however, does not fear them. No animal seems to excite fear, at all in him. All that is excited is curiosity.

About a month ago, Syahidah saw Tiarnan put a grasshopper, which he had found, lying dead, and picked up, fearlessly to play with, into one of Ainan's school shoes. She scolded him for doing so, and took it out. That was the end of it, she thought.

Later on, as Ainan walked with his mother, he turned to her and said: "Mummy, there is something in my shoe.", there was trepidation in his voice.

Syahidah took off his shoe - and, sure enough, there was a grasshopper inside. Tiarnan had replaced it, when his mummy wasn't looking.

To distract Ainan, Syahidah at once launched into a tall tale about her own childhood and how something similar had happened (whether or not it was true I do not know...that wasn't the purpose: distraction was.) Ainan's attention was drawn to the story and away from the dead horror in his shoe and he was able to cope with the discovery.

Knowing Tiarnan, this was done out of a mischievous sense of humour, for he laughs at many a sophisticated thing.

What I find impressive about this, is that, on seeing the grasshopper, he did not ignore it. Nor did he try to eat it. But he planned the creation of his first practical joke, with it. He must have known that Ainan would react with horror on seeing it. He must have seen some humour in surprising his older brother in this way...and he must also have understood that, in placing the grasshopper in the shoe that it would remain there until Ainan stepped into it. There was planning, dark humour, mischief and imagination in this act, all rolled into one. What is also notable is that he did not desist when his mother told him off - but that he had replaced the grasshopper, as soon as his mother's back was turned. All of this indicates quite a degree of sophistication for a twelve month old baby.

I wonder where this dark humour and liking of practical jokes will take him?

I think I had better start checking my shoes, before I put them on, lest he repeat the joke! (He hasn't so far.)

(If you would like to read more about Tiarnan, or Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children, in general. Thanks.)