taken aback (naut.): caught with the sails aback suddenly, through bad steering or a shift of wind, and driven astern. ~ (Oxford Dictionary).

Developmental Milestones: (...elided...). There are several other important milestones which are achieved in this time period which parents tend not to emphasise as much as the walking and talking milestones. Gaining the ability to point at whatever it is the child wants someone to see shows huge psychological gains in a toddler. This generally happens before a child’s first birthday.

Emotions and Self-Image: *This age is sometimes referred to as “the terrible twos”, because of the temper tantrums for which they are famous*. [emphasis added]. This stage can begin as early as nine months old depending on the child and environment. Toddlers tend to have temper tantrums because they have such strong emotions but do not know how to express themselves the way in which older children and adults do. Immediate causes can include physical factors such as hunger, discomfort and fatigue or a child’s desire to gain greater independence and control of the environment around them. The toddler is discovering how they are a separate being from their parent and are testing their boundaries in learning the way the world around them works.

Although the toddler is in their exploratory phase, it is also important to understand that the methods used by the parents for communicating with the toddler can either exacerbate the tantrum or calm the situation. Research has shown how parents with histories of maltreatment, violence exposure, and related psychopathology, may have particular difficulty in responding sensitively and in a developmentally appropriate manner to their toddlers’ tantrums and thus may benefit from parent-child mental health consultation. This time between the ages of two and five when they are reaching for independence repeats itself during adolescence.

Self-awareness is another milestone which helps parents understand how a toddler is reacting. Around eighteen months of age, a child will begin to recognise himself or herself as a separate physical being with his or her own thoughts and actions. A parent can test if this milestone has been reached by noticing if the toddler recognises how their reflection in a mirror is in fact themselves. One way to test this is the “rouge test”: putting lipstick on the child’s face and showing them their own reflection. Upon seeing the out-of-the-ordinary mark, if the child reaches to his or her own face, they have achieved this important milestone. Along with self-recognition comes self-conscious emotions; feelings of embarrassment and feelings of pride, for instance which had not been previously experienced. ~ (2012 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

[from Ancient Greek thaumatourgía (θαυματουργία ‎), from thaûma (θαῦμα), ‘miracle’, ‘wonder’ + érgon (ἔργον), ‘work’]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).

• thaumaturgy (n.): 1. the working of miracles; 2. magic; witchcraft, wizardry; (n.): thaumaturge; (adj.): thaumaturgic, thaumaturgical; (adv.): *thaumaturgically*; {[e.g.]: “The naturalistic or humanistic conception of values repudiates the conception that with respect to intrinsic values we are natively incompetent, or born in sin, and can discern them justly only by some insight thaumaturgically acquired...”. (C. I. Lewis; 1946).} [from Ancient Greek thaumatourgía (θαυματουργία‎), from thaûma (θαῦμα), ‘miracle’, ‘wonder’ + érgon (ἔ), ‘work’]. [curly bracketed inserts and emphasis added]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).

• thaumaturgy (n.): 1. the working of miracles; 2. magic; witchcraft, wizardry; (adv.): *thaumaturgically*. [emphasis added]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).

• thaumaturgy (n.): 1. the working of miracles; 2. magic; witchcraft, wizardry; (n.): thaumatology; (n.): thaumaturge; (adj.): thaumaturgic, thaumaturgical; (adv.):  *thaumaturgically*. [from Ancient Greek thaumatourgía (θαυματουργία‎), from thaûma (θαῦμα), ‘miracle’, ‘wonder’ + érgon (ἔ), ‘work’]. [emphasis added]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).

See Miracle

theoretical: of or pertaining to theory; of the nature of or consisting in theory as opp. to practice; that is such according to theory; existing only in theory, ideal, hypothetical’. ~ ~ (Oxford Dictionary).

theory: a system of ideas or statements explaining something, esp. one based on general principles independent of the things to be explained ... ~ (Oxford Dictionary).

• theoretical physics: a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical \ objects and systems to rationalise, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimental \ tools to probe these phenomena. In some cases, theoretical physics adheres to standards of mathematical rigour while giving little weight to \ experiments and observations. (...). A physical theory is a model of physical events. It is judged by the extent to which its predictions agree \ with empirical observations. The quality of a physical theory is also judged on its ability to make new predictions which can be verified by new \ observations. A physical theory differs from a mathematical theory in that while both are based on some form of axioms, judgment of mathematical \ applicability is not based on agreement with any experimental results. ~ (2022 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia).

thrall (n.): the state or condition of being in the power of another person; a person who is in such a state. [Old English thrǣl, ‘slave’, from Old Norse thrǣll]’ . ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

Enthrall:

enthrall (vb. tr): to hold as thrall; enslave; (n.): enthraller, enthrallment. [16th. cent. from \ en + thrall]’. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

throw light on/ shed light on/ cast light on: mental illumination; elucidation, enlightenment, knowledge; help explain. ~ (Oxford Dictionary).

too clever by half etc., far more clever etc. than is satisfactory or desirable’. ~ (Oxford Dictionary).

• torturous (adj.): 1. of, relating to, or causing torture; 2. twisted; strained; (usage note): although tortuous and torturous both come from the Latin word torquēre, ‘to twist’, their primary meanings are distinct; tortuous means ‘twisting’ (as “a tortuous road”) or by extension ‘complex’ or ‘devious’; torturous refers primarily to torture and the pain associated with it; however, torturous also can be used in the sense of ‘twisted’, ‘strained’, ‘belaboured’ and the word tortured is an even stronger synonym; [e.g.]: “it was a tortured analogy”; (adv.): torturously. [emphasis added]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• torturous (adj.): see tortuous. ~ (Collins English Thesaurus).

• tortuous (adj.): 1. winding, twisting, meandering, bent, twisted, curved, crooked, indirect, convoluted, serpentine, zigzag, sinuous, circuitous, twisty, mazy; [e.g.]: “a tortuous mountain route”; 2. complicated, involved, misleading, tricky, indirect, ambiguous, roundabout, deceptive, devious, complicated, convoluted, mazy; [e.g.]: “long and tortuous negotiations”; (antonyms): direct, straightforward, open, reliable, upright, honest, candid, ingenuous; (usage): the adjective tortuous is sometimes confused with torturous; a road which winds or twists is a tortuous road, while a torturous experience is one which involves pain, suffering, or discomfort. ~ (Collins English Thesaurus).

• torturous (adj.): pertaining to, involving, or causing torture or suffering; (adv.): torturously; (usage): the word torturousrefers specifically to what involves or causes pain or suffering; [e.g.]: “prisoners working in the torturous heat”; “their torturous memories of past injustice”; some speakers and writers use torturous in place of tortuous, especially in the senses ‘twisting’, ‘winding’ and ‘convoluted’; [e.g.]: “it was a torturous road”; “they were torturous descriptions”; there can often be semantic overlap between these words, since, for example, a tortuous (‘winding’) road may be considered torturous (‘painful’) to navigate; nonetheless, they are usually considered different words whose meanings should be kept distinct; [e.g.]: “it was a tortuous (‘twisting’) road”; “they were tortuous (‘convoluted’) descriptions”; “they were torturous (‘painful’) treatments”. [1490-1500; from Anglo-French; Old French tortureus, from Late Latin tortūra, ‘a twisting’, from Latin tortus, past participle of torquēre, ‘to twist’ + -ous].~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• torturous (adj.): extremely painful; (synonyms): agonising, excruciating, harrowing, torturesome, torturing; painful (=‘causing physical or psychological pain’; [e.g.]: “worked with painful slowness”). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• tralatitious (adj.): 1. passed along; handed down; transmitted; [e.g.]: “Among biblical critics a tralatitious interpretation is one received by expositor from expositor”. (William Withington); 2. metaphorical; figurative; not literal. ~ (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary).

• tralatitious† (adj.): metaphorical; not literal; [e.g.]: “Unless we could contrive a perfect set of new words, there is no speaking of the Deity without using our old ones in a tralatitious sense”. (Thomas Stackhouse, “New History of the Holy Bible from the Beginning of the World to the Establishment of Christianity”, iv. 1). [=Italian tralatizio, from Latin tralaticius, tralatitius, equivalent to translaticius, translatitius, from translatus, pp. of transferre, ‘transfer’; see translate]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• tralatitious (adj.): 1. having a character, force, or significance transferred or derived from something extraneous; metaphorical, figurative; [e.g.]: “The primary and tralatitious meanings of a word”; 2. passed along as from hand to hand, mouth to mouth, or from generation to generation; handed down; traditional; [e.g.]: “Among Biblical critics a tralatitious interpretation is one received by expositor from expositor”. (William Withington); (adv.): tralatitiously. [etymology: Latin tralatitius, tralaticius (from tralatus, translatus, suppletive past participle of transferre, ‘to transfer’) + -itius, -icius, ‘-itious’]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

• tralatitiously† (adv.): metaphorically; not in a literal sense; [e.g.]: “Written Language is tralatitiously so called, because it is made to represent to the Eye the same Letters and Words which are pronounced”. (Holder, Elements of Speech, p. 8). ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• tralatition† (n.): a change in the use of a word, or the use of a word in a less proper but more significant sense; [e.g.]: “According to the broad tralatition of his rude Rhemists”. (Bishop Hall, “Honour of Married Clergy”, i. § 14). [=Italian tralazione, from Latin tralatio(n-), equivalent to translatio(n-), ‘a transferring’, ‘translation’; see translation]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• tralatition† (n.): a departure from the literal use of words; a metaphor. [irregular for tralation; after tralatitious]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• tralineate† (intr.v.): to deviate in course or direction; [e.g.]: “If you tralineate from your father’s mind, | What are you else but of a bastard-kind?” (John Dryden, “Wife of Bath”, 1. 396). [after Italian tralignare, ‘degenerate’, Latin trans, ‘across’ + linea, ‘line’; see line]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• transcendent (adj.): beyond or before experience; a priori; falling outside a given set of categories; beyond consciousness or direct apprehension;. having continuous existence outside the created world; free from the limitations inherent in matter; (n.): a transcendent thing. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

triumphally (adv.): in a triumphal manner; pertaining to celebrating a triumph.~ (Oxford English Dictionary).

turpitudinous (n.): characterised by turpitude⁽⁰²⁾. [etymology: borrowed from Middle French turpitude, from Latin turpitūdō, “baseness, infamy”, from turpis, “foul, base”]. ~ (Wiktionary English Dictionary).