Last month, Caleb's Godpa, who's a medical student, came to YAM with a container filled with small square blocks (about 2cm by 2cm). He came to me and asked me whether he can observe Caleb and see whether he can stack up 5 square blocks on his own. According to Godpa, it is a developmental milestone. A 18 month old toddler should be able to do 5 blocks and a two year old should do 6 blocks and so on.
Well, I stared at the sizes of the blocks and told him, "Sorry, there's NO WAY Caleb can do 5 blocks that's this size!". The only blocks that we have at home are the soft rattle blocks and they are huge! And Caleb can barely stack 3 of the soft blocks up. I told Godpa that he's overestimated his godson. He may seem fast in his development but not that fast! Well, nevertheless, we did let Caleb try to stack the blocks but he couldn't really stack up the blocks coz they were very small and slippery.
Our enthusiastic Godpa wasn't deterred by Caleb's reaction and shortly after that incident, he appeared at our doorstep one day with a pack of Megablocks for Caleb. So that he can practise his stacking skills! And Mummy was thinking "ok... we better work harder now... no pressures!"
Well Godpa, thanks for having so much faith in Caleb. Caleb has been playing with your megablocks and also Nicole Jiejie's wooden blocks (which is the same size as the ones which you use for assessment). Last week, he was playing with Nicole Jiejie's wooden blocks and he was stacking so well. I just had to video it down for you so that you can see for yourself. Your efforts have paid off coz at 16 months, your Godson can stack up to 7 blocks by himself!
