Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/beyond-rem/5019959/
Two-month-old Eliot is lying on his back, enthusiastically shaking his arms back and forth. A grown-up puts a small rattle in his hand. He continues shaking his arms and the rattle makes a noise. He pauses with a look of intense curiosity on his face. The noise stops and he looks puzzled. Soon, he begins shaking his arms again and the rattle noise starts up again too. But as he continues shaking his arms and the rattle, the rattle accidentally clunks Eliot’s head. He cries. A grown-up takes the rattle from his hand and comforts him.A month later, Eliot is handed the rattle again. This time he looks at the rattle with interest and begins moving his hand; the rattle makes a noise. He stops, smiles, and continues shaking and looking at the rattle. Then he intentionally begins gently tapping his head with the rattle, stops, taps again, stops, and repeats this process several times. Soon he’s laughing. The rattle becomes a favorite toy that Elliot plays with during the day and in his crib when he wakes up at night. He begins shaking other objects when he picks them up, always smiling happily when they make a noise, ...