D van de Rijt - The Wonder Weeks

This is a very practical and entertaining window into the babys first year and a half. van de Rijt and Plooij have observed and found the vulnerable times in an infants development that I independently came to in my book Touchpoints (Perseus). The authors observations and practical suggestions are wonderful.

T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., professor emeritus, Harvard Medical School

Anyone who deals with infants and young children will want to read The Wonder Weeks. This book will open parents eyes to aspects of their childrens growth, development, changing behavior, and emotional responsiveness that they might otherwise not notice or find puzzling and distressing.

Catherine Snow, Ph.D., Shattuck Professor of Education,
Harvard Graduate School of Education

van de Rijt and Plooijs work on infant development has enormous value for clinical use and scientific application. Not only have they explained the periods of puzzling, difficult behavior in infancy which so worry parents, they have also shown how these behaviors mark developmental leaps and have described the stages in the infants understanding. Together, this gives parents and professionals soundly based insight into babies developing minds.

Whats more, van de Rijt and Plooij have described the play and communication that work best with babies at different ages and thus helped parents understand and connect sensitively with their babies. This parent-child connection is the major prerequisite for the development of secure, well-adjusted children. The Wonder Weeks is essential reading for everyone who works with infants pediatricians, social workers, psychologists, and, of course, parents.

John Richer, Ph.D., Dip. Clin. Psychol., consultant clinical psychologist
and Head of Pediatric Psychology, Department of Pediatrics,
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England

van de Rijt and Plooij will help you see the world the way an infant sees it. As the child grows, displays of emotion (such as crying) tell us the child is summoning reserves of energy and is calling out for help in finding new ways to perceive the changing world. Because van de Rijt and Plooij have discovered predictable stages in the widening of the infants perceptions and skills, they can enable you, with their superb examples, to recognize the onset of these stressful episodes and to join your child in coping with them. So rich, indeed, are the implications of finding new perceptions and new skills in the midst of stress that whether or not you are a parent, it can never be too early or too late to profit from this book.

Philip J. Runkel, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology and education,
University of Oregon

Portrait of the first author, Hetty van de Rijt, created by her grandson Thomas on September 12, 1998, when he was 23 months old. Grandson and Grandma had a very close relationship and during her last seven years he was the sunshine in Hettys life, which was restricted by disease.

On September 29,2003, Hetty passed away. Till the very last moment she worked on the extended edition of this book in Dutch. When she died, the first draft of the last chapter was ready. Through her lifes work Hetty hoped to empower parents and give them peace of mind and self-confidence in their role as upbringer and socializer in such a way that they could enjoy their little sunshine.

How to stimulate your babys mental development
and help him turn his 10 predictable, great, fussy
phases into magical leaps forward

Hetty van de Rijt, Ph.D.,
and
Frans Plooij, Ph.D.

To our children, Xaviera and Marco,
and to our grandchildren,
Thomas, Victoria and Sarah,
from whom we have learned so much

Notice

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your babys health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2012 by Kiddy World Promotions B.V.

First published in 1992 as Oei, ik groei! by Zomer & Keuning Boeken B.V., Ede and Antwerp

Kiddy World Promotions B.V. 1992, 2010

Hetty van de Rijt and Frans Plooij assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Translation by Stephen Sonderegger and Gayle Kidder
Book design by Convorm Ontwerp, Niels Terol
Illustrations by Jan Jutte

van de Rijt, Hetty 1944 2003
Plooij, Frans X. 1946

[Oei, ik groei! English]

The wonder weeks : how to stimulate your babys mental development and help him

turn his 10 predictable, great, fussy phases into magical leaps forward

/ Hetty van de Rijt and Frans Plooij.

480 p. 24 cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-90-79208-05-0

1. Infant psychology 2. Infants Development 3. Child rearing. 4. Baby books.
5. Life change events. 6. Emotions in infants. 7. Attachment behavior in infants.
8. Cognition in infants. 9. Parenting.

I. Title II. How to stimulate your babys mental development and help him turn his 10 predictable, great, fussy phases into magical leaps forward.

BF719. V3613 2010
649.122-dc21
v. 0212

Kiddy World Promotions B.V.
Zijpendaalseweg 73
6814 CE Arnhem
The Netherlands

Contents

Growing Up: How Your Baby Does It

Newborn: Welcome to the World

Wonder Week 5:

The World of Changing Sensations

Wonder Week 8:

The World of Patterns

Wonder Week 12:

The World of Smooth Transitions

Wonder Week 19:

The World of Events

Wonder Week 26:

The World of Relationships

Wonder Week 37:

The World of Categories

Wonder Week 46:

The World of Sequences

Wonder Week 55:

The World of Programs

Wonder Week 64:

The World of Principles

Wonder Week 75:

The World of Systems

Countless Wonders

H aving completed our studies in Educational Psychology, Physical Anthropology and Behavioral Biology, and just married, my wife Hetty van de Rijt and I left for the Gombe National Park, Tanzania, East-Africa to study chimpanzees with Jane Goodall. The particular research project we had prepared for proved impossible under the prevailing circumstances, so we had to change topic. There and then we realized that there was no place on Earth where one could observe freeliving newborn chimpanzee babies at such close range. We did not have any theory or hypothesis at hand for testing, but we were trained in systematic, direct observation of animal behavior in the field, in the tradition of Nobel Laureate Niko Tinbergen. So that is what we did for nearly two years.