Wonder Weeks (I called it Tender Weeks)

An application that shows your baby's mental development periods (called wonder weeks) and possible ways your baby might react during wonder weeks.

Plooij is the professor who analyzed behaviors of babies and came up with the wonder weeks theory. According to Plooij, there are 10 different periods in your baby's life until 2 years of age. These periods are called the "Wonder Weeks". Leaps start with crankiness, clinginess, and crying and ends with a progression in mental development whether it is tracking objects, communicating with you, or gaining understanding of action-reaction and so on.

I have heard of this application and was not too sure about it mainly because she was premature (was still in preemie mom mindset). After doing some research and actually going through a leap, I figured it could be helpful to observe her in a more educated manner.

Wonder weeks is not a free application. You have to purchase it through Apple store. When I downloaded it back in 2021, they did not have an Android version so I actually had to download it to my husband's phone, which was not that bad of an idea. Sometimes during the day, I would think of something and ask him to take a look at Wonder Weeks. This way, he had to familiarize himself with the leaps:)

What will you find in the Wonder Weeks application? Firstly, you will see a leap chart which is different for every baby. Depending on your little one's birth date, you will know whether she is going through a leap or which leap she is in.

Besides the chart, there are 4 sections in the application: Signals, Skills, Tips and Experiences. Every one of them guides you in a smart way to tackle this challenging period.

Me personally, I did not use this app to track whether D. was going through a leap or not. It is actually pretty obvious when she goes through one, that is why I called them the Tender Weeks:)

I rather used Wonder Weeks to see what sort of mental development I should have been expecting and what I could do to maximize her development through creating play around that. Application does not only spot leap timings but also provides you with ways to grasp how your little one's not so little brain works and communicate with her in a certain way to make the most of it.

For example, during the weeks where she picked up her actions created reactions, we taught her how to turn the air condition on & off or turn the light bulbs on & off. During the weeks, where she entered the world of patterns, I introduced her variety of patterns.

Another cool example is that there was one leap called Programs. Program meant a whole sequence of actions you carry out to complete a larger task. For instance she watches you getting dressed which is actually a sequence of actions happening in a particular order. She perceives getting dressed as one item, not really multiple items happening in an order. So she basically thinks getting dressed has to always happen in that order. You also know that in the next leap, she will be able to vary parts of a particular action/program meaning she will realize that you can get dressed in a different order. How fascinating is that?

These are just a few examples I thought were cool. There are a tons of it which you will find either in the app or the book. If you are unsure about the app, it could be a good idea to check out their website as they have short introductions to each leap which might help you make a decision.

https://www.thewonderweeks.com/the-mental-leaps-and-wonder-weeks/