-
Birth
Feb 2, 1999 -
Period: to
MY LIFE SO FAR
-
Infancy: Physical Development
I started walking at 12 months. My parents would coach me by having me hold onto their hands as a tested out walking. -
Infancy: Physical Development
The gross motor skills that I had were the ability to move my legs enough to walk. I squat/bent my legs to dance, shuffled to "run," and used my core to move from laying down to standing up. I had to learn how to shift balance and motor plan.
The fine motor skills that I used were manipulating my grasp to go from a full handed grasp (Palmer grasp) to a finger-manipulated Pincer grasp. -
Infancy: Emotional Development
After asking her some questions, I surprisingly learned I had an insecure avoidant attachment to my mom. If she left me in a room I wouldn't cry when she left or when she came back. This means that I felt like I needed to internalize and become a "little adult."
It also means I was independent both physically and emotionally from my mom.
(This explains so much) -
Sister is born
-
Infancy: Cognitive Development
As an infant, I used my senses to understand the world. I touched, licked, and tried to taste everything in sight. I often chewed on my toys.
I developed object permanence around two years old. My favorite toy was a stuffed cat that I named "Kitty Bug." She went everywhere with me. One day she wasn't in my room and instead of crying, believing that she had disappeared forever, I looked for her and found her. -
Infancy: Emotional Development
My temperament as an infant was calm and content. My parents say I was happy with everyone I met and the only time I cried was when I was hungry. As a toddler, my temperament was highly influenced by the mood of my little sister, who was two years younger than me. -
Early Childhood: Physical Development
Between the ages of 3-5, I got physical exercise pretty often. My favorite games to play were hide and go seek and tag. I enjoyed exercise but I think I loved play-acting more. I dressed up and played by myself (when my sister didn't want to play). -
Early Childhood: Physical Development
As far as gross motor skills go, I was pretty good at motor planning and balance - as good as a five year old could get. I ran and danced.
I learned how to manipulate my fingers to use scissors in Preschool at 3 years old. My mom says we did crafts at home a lot so I was used to cutting/gluing/coloring. -
Early Childhood: Cognitive Development
My parents helped my language acquisition by letting me figure out what I was trying to say for a while before correcting me or rephrasing. I stammered for a while when I first started to articulate on what I was saying. I think this gave them the hint that I was really trying to focus on what I was saying and to make sure it was right.
My mom says she spoke to me like an adult instead of using baby talk and that I started speaking in full sentences at 1 year old. -
Early Childhood: Emotional Development
My emotional temperament stayed pretty content and calm until I was around four. I had developed the theory of mind (cognitive development) so I was testing out my boundaries by lying. I also started saying no to my parents - this didn't go well, especially since my two year old sister was following my lead.
My mom said that at about 4 1/2 I realized that being in trouble wasn't fun and I went back to listening. -
Early Childhood: Cognitive Development
As a young child, I loved princesses and animals. The theories on concepts explain why I favored princesses over superheroes: because there are gender differences and gender roles presented at the earliest points in life. Although I really loved princesses, I think it's because I loved Disney. One of my favorite Disney movies (that I would watch non-stop) was Pete's Dragon. So it was not all stereotypical to my gender
I also liked blocks/building things, coloring, memory games, and making things -
Early Childhood: Cognitive Development
I did a lot of pretend play in my early childhood. Piaget's preoperational stage of development really addresses how this is a big part of children's lives and cognitive development.
I would ask my sister to play dress up or "pet shop" with me. I know she said yes a lot and we would have fun playing but I think she said no enough that that is all I remember about trying to play with her. I would set up the scene with stuffed animals everywhere for what felt like hours and she would say "nah." -
Middle/Late Childhood: Physical Development
Between the ages of 6-10 I tried out dancing, cheer, and soccer. I took a modern lyrical and hiphop dance class for two years but I think I only stayed in it because I also took a theatre dance class that my mom taught. I didn't really have an interest in sports or physical activity. I liked staying inside and making stuff or watching movies. -
Brother is born
-
Middle/Late Childhood: Physical Development
My gross motor skills were more refined as I practiced my balance in dance and became pretty flexible.
My fine motor skills were more refined as I made more crafts like friendship bracelets. -
Middle/Late Childhood: Cognitive Development
An example of Piaget's concrete operational stage in my childhood would be the activities that I loved doing in AIM (Gifted) class at school. The puzzles would say something like "Sally lives in a red house next to Don, Don lives next to someone with a cat, Jerry lives in a blue house and owns a dog. Who lives in a yellow house? Who has a cat?" These puzzles required being able to work backwards in operations and to use seriation to analyze the different parts. -
Mom & Dad get divorced
-
Middle/Late Childhood: Cognitive Development
I realized that not everyone had interpersonal intelligence. People don't realize that they're all up in your space. Or that someone is hurting/sad but they are trying not to reveal it. -
Adolescence: Physical Development
The only exercise I got was in PE until I was around 14 and I started to run on the Track and Field team. I ran because I enjoyed pushing myself.
I tried out volleyball and softball. I really liked softball, which I played when I was a sophomore in high school. -
Adolescence: Physical Development
I refined my gross motor skills when I tried exercising more often.
My fine motor skills improved as I learned to type on the computer and manipulate my fingers for different skills. -
Adolescence: Physical Development
I started noticing changes around 10 but I didn't actually start puberty until 13. I think I hit puberty a little late but maybe it was around the same time as my peers. I remember feeling "behind" compared to girls I was friends with but it didn't bother me for long. I quickly realized puberty sucks. -
Step-dad & Mom are married
-
Adolescence: Cognitive Development
An example of the formal operational stage in my life is how I began to not only think abstractly but to create ideal situations in my head.
I started to imagine how my days should go and what I want to do with my life. This made me into a little bit of a perfectionist because I was comparing real life to my perfect life in my head.
I used hypothetical deductive reasoning to construct reasons for why people act the way they do (I was always trying to figure this out.) -
Adolescence: Emotional Development
Sternberg would probably define the most important relationship in my life as either my first boyfriend (8th grade) or my second boyfriend (11th grade). These two relationships were so different but so similar. The were more like long, 6 month friendships.
Now that I know I had an insecure avoidant attachment with my caregiver, it makes more sense that I had somewhat of an avoidant attachment with my boyfriends. I hesitated about getting involved and then when I did, I distanced myself. -
Graduate High School
-
Start school at UAB
-
Step-Mom & Dad are married (now I have a Step-brother)
-
Early Adulthood: Physical Development
I don't exercise often. I feel like I need to have time and motivation to do so and right now I struggle to have any type of motivation. I know I should be working out but I want to find someone who feels the same way so that we can conquer it together. -
Early Adulthood: Cognitive Development
In the post-formal thought stage of Piaget's cognitive development, I have learned that there are multiple right answers, that everyone believes in something different, that it is okay to doubt or be skeptical, and that emotions are an important part of thought. -
Early Adulthood: Emotional Development
I currently feel like my closest attachment is with my mom. I don't have a close best friend or boyfriend so I feel like I turn to my mom for emotional comfort and advice.
