All by myself!

Mindfulness: The Lark delivered some muffins to my mother's house (about half a mile away) all by himself (I trailed him). He was really excited when I told him to go by himself. He really seemed to enjoy himself, skipping, running, even walking backwards at one point. He got a little mixed up when he got to my mom's place, which is a condo in a huge complex with lots of buildings that all look alike. But he didn't get flustered. He tried a couple of different doors. Then he peered into someone's patio door. That's when I had to appear from behind my tree and offer some guidance. But with that guidance he was able to go the rest of the way by himself.

Imitation/Body Mapping: During exercises today we worked on "twisting" and shaking our hips, both of which motions elude Marco. It seems the body map in his brain is missing the coordinates for his hips. When I move my hips, he tries to imitate me by moving his shoulders or his head or his whole body. It's like he can't find his hips. Imitation is the foundation of all learning--especially social learning. If someone has an incomplete or inaccurate body map, imitating will be harder for him. If he has trouble imitating, he is less inclined to do it. If he doesn't imitate, he will not pick up all the subtle gestures and sounds that unite us culturally. So the trick is not to teach specific gestures and sounds, but to help our children become more competent, confident imitators generally. Then they will pick up communicative gestures and sounds as the need arises.