over-hand. Throwing with a side swing or underhand toss continued throughout the remainder of the third year to be the favorite manner of throwing balls, stones and other similar articles.
Learning to catch a ball.—I first tried to teach R. to catch a ball in the twenty-ninth month, but with little success. He adjusted his hands with care, looking at them as if getting ready to perform a very difficult feat, placing the little fingers in contact, but held the palms of his hands so near his chest or face that he was unable to catch the most carefully tossed ball. The position of the hands was unfavorable for catching. But worse than the position was the fact that, at first, he made no effort to close his hands over the ball when it did strike the palms of his hands. Nor did he make any effort to reach out toward the ball and seize it when it was tossed to him. So the only idea or factor in the rather complex adjustment necessary to catch a ball which he was able to get was the idea that the two hands should be held together in front of the body. I tried again in the thirty-second month to teach the child to catch a ball, but with little better success. The only difference noticeable in the position of the hands was that he adjusted them with more care, and held them nearer his face than in the earlier months. (Plate I illustrates five changes in the positions of the hands in learning to catch a ball.)
Learning to turn a door-knob to open a door.—It
