"Sequential Play" by Guest Blogger: Shawn Overcast

Despite my role as Writer in our household, Shawn also quietly keeps her own journal about Reilly’s development. The book she writes in is called Baby's First Year Journal. I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering buying such a gift for a baby shower, or for his wife, or perhaps on impulse for herself. (It strikes me that Shawn probably recieved this as a gift from someone out there. Pipe up if it was you!)

The journal has a day-by-day description of a baby’s typical development, and from time to time there is a half of a page that is left blank for a parent to write in. Shawn uses these blank lines to reflect on what she has read, and to apply it to the life of Reilly.

Though she would never admit it, she is actually a very good writer, and very succinctly appraises complex situations and emotions. I like the way she writes her entries directly to Reilly, addressing her with the second person point of view. I often find myself in awe over her entries. Here is one such example.

From the book:
“By about eleven months of age, your baby may be able to engage in sequential play. An example of this type of play is when your baby puts one object after another into a container.”

Shawn’s entry:
Play is all about taking things out. I laughed at the description that sequential play is described as putting objects into a container. Your sequential play is demonstrated by taking book by book off the shelf, by taking toy by toy out of your basket, by taking ring after ring after ring off its block. It doesn’t take long before this apartment looks like something exploded!