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Germinal: The First 14 days
I started as a single cell at fertalization and then began to multiply rapidly. This is when my cels begin to separate into two distinct masses, the placenta and embryo. The first important task for my placenta is to achieve implantation. This is the only way for me to survive. -
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The Beginnings
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Embryo: From the Third through the Eighth week
I am not considered an embryo which refers to a developing human. In my fourth week my head begins to take shape and eyes, ears, nose and mouth begin to form. Also, a very small blood vessel that will become by heart begins to pulsate. -
Fith-eigth weeks
Buds that will be my arms and legs begin to emerge. The upperarms and then forearms, palms and webbed fingers appear. Then in the next few days legs, feet and webbed toes become apparent.
In the end of the eigth week I weigh only 1 gram and am about 1 inch long. At this time I have all of the basic organs of the body besides sex organs. I also am always moving around in moms belly, roughly 150 times an hour. -
Fetus: From the ninth week until birth
I am now called a fetus from the ninth week until my birth. Many changes happen at this time, for one I develop my sexual organs. At 3 months only I weight about 3 grams and am about 3 inches in length.
The the next three moths my heartbeat becomes stronger. My digestive and excretory systems develop. I also develop my fingernails, toenails, buds for teeth and my hair grows. My brain increases about six times in size. and forms many new neurons. -
Final three months
I gain much more weight in the last three months, at least 4.5 pounds. The relationship between mom and me intensifies in the final trimester. My brain growth has been so extensive that the cortex forms folds in order to fit in the skull. -
Birth
After 38 weeks I was ready to come out. I release hormones that trigger the labor to begin. Finally at 4:19 am on June 25th I made my entrance into the world, I weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces ad was 21 inches long. There were no problems with my birth, I was born very healthy will a big head of black curlly hair. -
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The first two years
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Psychosocial Development: Emotional Development
As a newborn I had two simple emotions, distress and contentment .My emotions begin with simply crying and then by 6 weeks a social smile, 3 months laughter, 4 months responsive smiles, 9-14 months fear of social events, 12 months fear of unexpected sights and sounds and 18 months self awareness. Maturatin makes these emotions possible, but context and learning effect the timing. Brain maturation and connection of neurons underlies all emotional development. -
Cognitive Development: 6 Stages of sensorimotor Intellegence
Piaget described the distinct periods of cognitive development. The two year peroid is divided into six stages. First babes use their senses and motor skills to gain an understanding of their world. First they use reflexes and then start to adapt through assimilation and accomendation. I start to have goal-oriented behavior such as handing mom my sippy cup when I am thirsty. In stage five I become a "little scientis" according to Paget where I experiement and use trial and error. -
Cognitive Developemnt: Information Processing
My cognition can be studied by using the Information-processing perspective which analzy each compenent of how thoughts begin and how they are remembered, organized and expressed; and how cognition builds day in and day out. Memory depends on both maturation and experience. When I am around 6 months old I will begin to retain more informtaion then I had before. By nine months, if a see a toy being played with one day, and I am given the same toy the next day I will play with it the same way. -
Biosocial Developments: size and sleep
My Birthweight will double, triple and quadruple at 4, 12 and 24 months. My height will increase by about a foot in the first two years. As I mature, my sleep patterns will become more regular. I start out sleeping many hours of the day in short stretches. By one years old I begin to sleep longer at night and take a couple naps during the day. -
Biosocial Developement: Brain Development
My skull is disproportionetly large for my body because it has to hold my brian that is alreay 25% of its adult weight. The specifics of brain stucture and growth depends on genes and experience. In infancy I had objects to manipulate and people to love me so my brain developed normally. Because of the the language I heard and faces I saw, and how my mother reacts to frustration my brain was consturcted and structured a certain way. -
Theories of Psychosocial Development
These theories differ in their explanations of the orgins of early emotions and personaltiy. Pshychoanalitic theory stressed a mothes responses to an infants needs. Bahavior is basked on the child learning from wathing adults. The cognitive theory says that thoughts and values determine a persons perspective. In socioculture theory, infants learn from their culture and ethnicity. Promimal and distal parenting makes a differnece. My parents were more proxiamal in the early years. -
Cognitive Development: Language
Even from my first days I attend to words and expressions and respond as well as I can with crying, cooing and soon babbling. Before age 1 I will understand simple communications and respond with gestures. I started speaking pretty late, not until about 18 months. My mom says she thought I would talk sooner but my older sister always talked for me. Vocabulary comes slowly at first and then increases rapidly. -
Biosocial Development: Public Health
My mom was always very good about immunizations and keeping us healthy. She also made the decision to breastfeed which helped build my immune system and fight off sickness. -
Pshycosocial Development: Development of Soical Bonds
The bond I had with my mom and dad early on was Synchrony wich is a coordinated interaction between caregiver and infant where they respond to each other with split-second timing.
Then attachment overtakes synchrony. I was very attached to my parents when I was young. I would cry when my parents would leave me certian people. I got better about his with age. Then there is social referencing when I started seeking emotions or information from other people. -
Biosocial Development: Sensation
All five senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching) were functional at birth. Hearing was far superior to seeing because there was much more to hear then see in the womb. After I was born, my vision began to develope rapidly. I also developed my binocular vision where I gained the ability to use two eyes to see one image My smell, taste and touch developed depending on my social world. -
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Early Childhood
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Biosocial Development: Movement
Motor skills begin with reflexes and then quickly include verious movements. I first lifted my head, then I would sit, then stand all before I took my first steps when I was 13 months. Sensory and motor skills follow a genetic and maturational timetable, but are also very influenced by experience.
My fine motor such as hand skills mature over the first two years but need much more practice and maturation. -
Cognitive: Early Childhood Education
Young children are like little sponges and are very avid learners. I participated in Teacher-Directed Programs. My parents and then my pre-school teacher were the first people to nurture my learning. I feel that my teachers and parents were very attentive to my learning, therefore I was ver successful. I learned basic skills that got me "ready to learn" before kindergarten. -
Biosocial: Brain Development
My brain continued to develop throughout these years. Parts of the brain such as the corpus callosum that connect the left and right brain connect allowing lateralization and coordination as well as less impulsivity and preservation. In the time my motor skills developed more fully and I was able to pump a swing, kick a ball and I even began to take dance class when I was 4 years old. -
Cognitive: Piaget and Vygotsky
This is the age of preoperational intelligence, a time for symbolic thought, especially language and imagination. I had quite the imagination when I was a kid. I could keep myself busy for hours with my made up games. As Vygotsky says, contive developement is embeded in soical context. We are very curious and observant and ask our mentors many questions. I joined in guided participation with my sister and mom. I also developed my own theories such as a theory of mind. -
Cognitive: Language
At this age my language skills are developing rapidly and by age six most children know 10,000 words and indicate having extensive grammatical knowledge. These are the years that would be best for me to learn my second language but it would require strong encouragment and repeated practice. I was born and raised in Michigan with two american parents and english is the only language that was and still spoken. -
Psychosocial: Emotional Development
When I was a young child I had high self-esteem for the most part, except for when my sister made fun of me about certain things. Sel-concept emerges in the stage of initiiative vs. guilt, as does the ability to regulate emotions. I definitly develped empathy for people which produced prosocial behavior. I did not develope aggression or take on the role of a bully. -
Psychosocial: Parents
My parents definietly raised us in the authortattive style meaning they were very encouraging with good communication as well as high expectatons. This was very effevtive in giveing me high self-esteem, autonomy and self-control. My childhood consisted of very little tv and other media and was replaced by playing games and spending a lot of my time outdoors. -
Biosocial: Injuries and Maltreatment
Injury control is very necessary in these years because more deaths occur from avoidable injuries than of disease. Abuse and neglect usually happen among families with many children and limited rescources. This is a problem I never dealt with in my life. My parents never abused me or maltreated me. I was very well taken care of and had everything I ever needed. -
Biosocial Development: Body Changes
Our body changes and continues to grown between ages 2-6 but a slower rate. I now weight between 40-50 pounds and am at least 3.5 feet tall. I was very lean at skinny at this point in my life. At this age we tend ot eat more unhealthy food and refuse to eat certain other foods. My mom was very good about feeding us a variety of foods and this helped me not to be a picky eater in my later years. Oral health was important in our family and we brushed and saw a dentist regularly. -
Psychosocial: Becoming Boys and Girls
When I was young and stared school, I chose to play more with the girls rather then the boys. I coped with my guilt and fear thourgh indentification when I would copy my moms mannerism, opinions, actions and so on. Behavoiorits beleive that gender distinctions are the product of ongoing reinforcement and punishment as well as social learning. Cognitive theory says we develope concepts about our experiences such as a gender schema, which is our understanding of sex differneces. -
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Middle Childhood
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Biosocial: A Healthy Time
The middle years were some of my best. My growth slowed down, self care was easy (didnt have the problems of adolescence), and I depending less on my family and began to walk to school. My medial care and oral care were extensive and kept me healthy. I started healthy habits as a child such as always playing sports and getting reqular exercies, having a well balanced diet and plenty of sleep. I played softball and soccer in middle childhood. -
Psychosocial: The Nature of children
Middle childhood we begin to care less what our parents think, and more about our peers opinions and social comparison. We start to have daily stresses in our lives and deal with them by being more independent, using school achievment, after-school activities, supportive adults and religious beliefs to help us. I played sports and hung out with my friends to gain my independence -
Cognitive: Building on Theory
At age 7, Piagot stated, children attain concrete operational thought, including the ability to organize things into groups which is known as calssification. Also we become able to figure out the unspoken link between one fact and another. Also, our information-processing abilities increase, including greater memory, knowledge, control and metacognition. I exceled in school at this age and was able to make these conncections without extra help. -
Biosocial: Brain Development
My brain maturation continues, contributing to faster reactions and better self-control. The specific skills I had acquired depended largly on culture, gender and inherited ability and was measured in intellegence tests. The problem with these tests is that none can measure the complexities of the human bran. I did not suffer from having ADD or ADHD as a child, nor any other disorder. -
Biosocial: Special Needs
Many children have special learning needs. Early recognition is key so that education can be altered accordingly and pschological support can help them. Certian aides are set up to help children with learning disabilities, those with bipolar and attention-deficit disorders and the many disorders of the autism spectrem. I was never dianosed with any of these disorders, so the extra help and specific programs never applied to me. -
Psychosocial: Families
My parents continue to influence me through this time. During these years my family needs to meet basic needs, encourage learning, foster self-respect, nurture friendship and more importnaly provide harmony and stability. No family structure guarentees optimal funtioning but household income, little conflict and family stability benefit children of all ages. This was the time in my life where all of that cahnged. Conflict was happening between my parents and my dad moved out of our house. -
Cognitive: Education
Comparing education among othe countries shows marked variations in overt and hidden circulum as well as learning. Because it was thought that US children were below that of other nations it led to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Education has been held to a high standerd in public schools ever since. Another difference in education that I experienced was religious education after school where I learned more about the Chatholic religion. -
Cognitvie: Language
By age six I have mastered most fo the basic vocaulary and grammer of my first language. I learned to adjust my vocabulary based on context. One aspect that advances a lot in middle childhood is pramatics, which is the practical use of language. I know by age 6 I was very much loved school and had good vocabulary. My first grade teacher saved one of the papers I wrote because she thought I would be the first women president! -
Pshycosocial: Peers and Morals
At this age I became very relient on my friends for help, loyalty and sharing of mutual interests. My favorite thing to do was be outside either playing barbies, house or school with my friends. For some, rejection and bullying became serious problems but I was fortunate to always be excepted and have a lot of friends at this time in my life. Moral development, influenced by peers, starts to advance. I was lucky enought to be surrounded by good peers to steered me right. -
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Adolescence
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Psychosocial- Identiey
I definitly struggles with identity in my adolescence years. I relied on both my parents and peers to help with my concerns and troubles in my teen years. My parents were really there for me in other ways, but talking about sex was really not one of them. That is a topci that I relied heavily on my friends. During middle school I was very unsure and uncomfortable with who I was. High was much better and I started to develop parts of me that last into the future, but I still had far to go. -
Biosocial- Nutrition and brain
My mom always made dinner for us and we rarely ate fast food so I usually was recieving adequate nutrients that my growth spurt required. My neurological growth continues on in this point of my life. My limbic system matures faster then my prefrontal cortex which results in my acting impulsivley at times. -
Cognitive- Adolescent thinking
I start to think differently then I did when I was a child. I have now been through more schooling and begin to think hypothetically and deductively. I definitly thought I was invicible at this age and that nothing could happen to me. I also experienced my emotional and experimental thinking overcoming my logic in some of the bad choices I made in highschool. -
Biosocial- Puberty
During my adolesence my body went through puberty. I was a late bloomer and didn't start my period until I was 13. This was the time when I experienced increased hormones and definitly started putting more emphasis on boys. Even though I at times I wanted too, I was able to keep my virginity all through highschool. -
Cognitive- Teaching and Learning
In this time period of my life, I graduate from middle school as well as high school. I was lucky to have been successful in my academics in middle school because others are not. Middle school were extremely hard and awkward years for me. Luckily things got much better and I continured to do well academically through high school when I graduated cum laude. -
Psycosocial- Relationships
Even though I always remained close with my family, these were the years that I bickered and bumped heads (pretty severly at times) then I every have in my life. All I wanted was to be with my friends and I did not like being told what to do. The increase in hormones did not help me because I have always had really bad PMS. Even though I started to date, I really behaved myself compated to a lot of my friends. -
Psycosocial- Sadness and Anger
I don't feel as if I ever experienced and serious depression in my adolescence because I was always surrounded by great family and friends. I felt down at times when boys didnt like me, or I wasn't as pretty as one of the "popular" girls but it never really became a problem. Anger definitely came into play because I thought I knew what was best for me and I hated my mom for being so strict. I spent most of my high school years rebelling against her. -
Psycosocial- Drugs
I was a relatively good girl in the years that friends started to do drugs. I never really had an interested to trying drugs except drinking and on a few occasions marijuana. Drinking was the main thing in high school which was pretty common among my friends. I don't make the best choices and I know my mom would be disappointed but I was rebelling against her and didn't care. -
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Emerging Adulthood
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Biosocial- Growth and Health
At this point on my life my body is strong healthy and active. I am at the peak of my sexual and reproductive potential but I do not emark on having children just yet. I coped very well with my new freedom in college and then beyond. Because of a failed romantic relationship, these years were the first time that I experienced some depression. College also brought on a lot of anxiety for me. -
Cognitive- Postformal thought
It is thought that at this point we may reach a fifth stage of cognition. Whether it is an actual stage is controversial. Regardless, as adults we learn to balance emotion and logic. Because of my life experience I move toward deeper reflection and moral analysis. I definietly continure to mature in these years of my life. -
Psychosocial- Intimacy
At this point in my life I definietly made my friendships a very hight priority because of all of the stress I was always facing. First with trying to do well in college, then to moving to NYC and trying to audtion and work. I also really latched onto my relationship and cohabitated because I thought we would get married someday. We began to have a lot of problems in our relationship rooting from trust issues, and ultimately we did not work out. -
Cognitive- College
College was a huge learning experience for me in many ways. First I was advancing my crital thinking as well as developing communicatin and practical skills. This was my first experience with living away from home and making my own decisions. I was also exposed to so many different situations and people that shaped who I am today. I had to depend more on my critical thinkig rather then my mom. -
Psychosocial- Family Connections
At this point in my life my mom and I haved gotten past our disagreements and became very close again. My mom is always very supportive of me and is always the one who keep me reaching for the stars and following my goals. The door was always open when I needed to move back home after college and moving to NYC. It is very normal for emerging adults to move back home to establish themselves before moving out. -
Biosocial- Healthy habits
I continued to stay physically active and eat correctly except for a couple years in college when I was not very healhty. I continued to make good decisions about staying away from addictive drugs and I am pretty proud of how I was able to maintain good habits. I started to get better about maing safer decisions but I was still lucky that I never ended up in a dangerous situtaion. -
Psycosocial- Identity achieved
This is the time in my life that I continue on the path to achievement but I am getting close. I am closer at finding who I want to be and the people I want to surround myself with. Personaltiy pattersnt that I inherited or developed in childhood become more stable but could change at any time. It wasn't until after college when I had gained all of that knowledge but was no longer trying to impress people that I really started figuring out who I was. -
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Adulthood
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Biosocial- Senescence
In this long stage many different things will happen with my body. My brain starts to slow, my skin begins to wrinkle and my sense become less acute. My body shape will begin to change as I start to get bigger around the middle. After having kids and the raising them I find my body just isnt the same as it used to be. I tire more easily and have to work twice as hard to keep the weight off. -
Psychosocial- Continuity and change
I have 5 basic clusters of personaltiy traits that remain pretty stable throughout my adult years. Openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. These traits reflect my culture and are strengened by the lifestyles I have chosen. Even though much stays the same throughout these years, things are also changing as wel. All of the different varying experiences in life can help shape and possiblt change these traits. Having kids helped me develop all of these traits. -
Biosocial- The sexual reproductiove system
During these years, sexual responsivness and reproductive potential is reduced over the span of adulthood. When I turn 52 I began going through menopause because of the drop in my estrogen. I had the option of hormone replacement but I decided against it because doctors do not recommend it. My husband is 7 years older then me but luckliy mens bodies experience more of a gradual decline of testosterone -
Cognitive- What is intelligence
As far as my intelligence goes through adulthood, parts are increasing while others decline. Longitudal research show it is increasing, while cross-sectional research is declining. As time goes on fluid intelligence declines and crystalized intelligence improves. I continue to learn and improve practical intelligence, especially social understanding, because it is much needed through the ups and downs of life. As a mom I deal with so many different social situations so I need that intelligence. -
Cognitive- Selective Gains and Loses
As I become more experienced in my job, selective compensation is apparent. After being an RN in a hospital I wanted to move up in the ranks and went back to school to become a nurse practitioner. At this point in my life I am more intuitive, automatic, strategic, and felxible when dealing with problems in my area of expertise then I am in othe parts of my life. -
Psychosocial- Intamcy
I live a very full life as an adult. I have extremly clost relationships with my husband, family, friends and grown kids. I am so fortunate that I have not had to deal with the terrible process of a divorce. Of course there have been bumps along the way, with the kids as well, but in the end we are all happy and healhty and extremly close. We are always spending time as a family and I fortunate to have great grandkids as well. Life is good! -
Psychosocial- Generativity
In my adulthood my husband and I share the job as kinkeeper. We both have a very active role in raising our kids. I am the one is primarily with them becaue I am able to be home most of the time with my job. We do a lot to take care of our aging parents. My mom now lives with us because she is unable to live on her own. Justin's dad is stil living on his own but we check on him regularly. We were able to provide emotional as well as financial support to our kids. -
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Late Adulthood
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Biosocial- Predicitons, Aging, and Disease
Ageism is very prevalent at this time in my life when I am classifed in the elderly group. Primary and secondary aging increase morbidity. Luckily I made healthy lifestyle choices as far as drinking and smoking so secondary aging isn't so harsh for me. Regarldess, my senese are all beginning to decline and diseases are so much more common among my friends. Its hard to deal with having friends suffering from things like Alzheimer's Disease. -
Biosocial- Theories of Aging
Even though many parts of my body are strarting to slow down, there is also a part of me that still feels great. My grandparents were great role models for me and demonstrated how to live healthy lives. Just like them, I continue to still get physical activiy which has reduced the effects of aging. -
Cognitive- The usual
My brain funtion is still pretty intact in my old age. I am still able to think and plan pretty well. From time to time I have trouble with my short term memory but all in all both long term and short term memory are ok. I start to lose more of my short term memory when I hit my 90's. I also start to have problems with my emotional restraint. -
Cognitive- The impaired
I am very fortunate to have been relatively healthy for my whole life up until my 90's. Cognitively until then I was aware and could live on my own. When I hit my 90's I lived with my daughter because I began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. I started to struggle to remember things in and about my life. I would have good days an bad days of course. On a good day when I was lucid I could still remember my children and grandchidren. -
Biosocial- Centenarian
Many of my friends and others from my generation are living longer then those a century ago. My healthy friends are living well into their 80's and early ninties if not beyond. At the same time many people I know are coming down with diseases and doctors are much less aggressive in their treatments. -
Cognitive- The optimal
In late adulthood, my love for the arts was back in full swing. One of my favorite things to do was see musicals and ballets we well as see all the lates movies coming out. I also became much more spiritual as I felt the end of my life approaching. Even though I had always practiced my religion, it felt that it was on a whole new level in late adulthood. The life review helps me understand my role in the human experience. All my grandkids find me to be very wise when I talk about my life. -
Psychosocial- Activities of Later Adulthood
I continue to be quite active in my older age. I keep up with all of my grandchildrens games and activies. I also like to volunteer at my church and for other things around my community. -
Psychosocial- Friends and Family
Justin and I were very happily married for 52 years before he passed away. We maintainted very close relationships with all three of our children as well as our grand and great grand children. We kept up the tradition that my grandparents started to going up north to Higgins lake for 2 weeks every summer for good old family time. We are very fortunate to have a very healthy family. -
Psychosocial- The frail elderly
As I reach my 90's and am nearing my death bed, I become very frail and am unable to perform life's daily tasks. Due to our close familly ties, my kids decide to take turns taking care of me. My children knew of the rough circumstances and abuse that often takes place in nursing homes and elderly care facilities. I was very fortunate to be able to live with my daughter up until I went into hospice care right before my death. -
Epilogue- Death and Dying
I pass away about a week shy of my 94th birthday. I was kept very comfertable by the nursing staff at the hospice facitliy. I was constantly surrounded by my loved ones and I was very accpeting and ready to move on. My faith was very strong and I was not afraid of death. I was ready to see all of my family members and husband who had gone on before me. I lived a very fulfilling life and wouldn't change a minute of it.