At about age 20-24 months, toddlers have a real sense of what’s theirs and as their vocabulary expands, they have no trouble voicing it. (at times, loudly.)
Two toddlers wanted to explore the same book:
Av (23 mths) “Nooooooo….Please stop….mine!” as she pulls at the book that Aid (17 mths) is holding. I was pleased to see that the modeling of “Please stop” has been absorbed. Then to my surprise Aid announces:
“NOOOOOOOOO, Mmmmmmine” as she grabs the book. Aid , being only 17 mths, is developing her language at an amazing pace. New words appear in the afternoon that were introduced that morning!
Su (16 mth) is watching the whole transaction and picks up a book and attempts to pass it Li (17mth) and as Li reaches out to take the book, Su pulls it away and screams “Mmmmmmine!”, she quickly glances back at the other girls and then looks at me, she flashes me a grin and announces “NOOOO” and gives the book to Li.
What a surprise! Not only are the teachers modelling behaviour that the children are mimicking but the children are also mimicking each other. So, while I was expecting the older toddlers to enter the “me” phase, the other 15, 16 and 17 mths old are all showing “me” signs as well, perhaps in mimicry? Is this peer pressure in action?
Unfortunately the younger toddlers do not have the same language development as the older toddlers, so this past week , the one’s classroom has had a lot of screaming in battles over trucks, books and snack time sippy cups and even boots!
