Posts tagged baby milestones
Watching Babies Think: Talking Up a Storm—The Perfect Storm
One day, when your baby is around 18 months old, it will hit you that a walking, talking, knowing little child with a much defined personality has “taken up residence” in your home, loudly calling your name (Mom-eeeee!), and claiming your heart in a new and different way. Walking and getting into mischief was the beginning of the change. But the most significant transformation in your relationship is triggered by your little one’s improved ability to communicate. With just a few words, they can put language, gestures and emotions together. It’s a totally different experience—this emergence of the toddler—who is too grown up to be a infant, but young enough to still be your baby.
When the first 7-10 words appear, the time has come to do some heavy lifting on language development. This is the very beginning of the word explosion. More >
Watching Babies Think: Babies Know More Than We Think and More Than They Can Speak
Anyone who has seen the 2004 comedy, Meet the Fockers, starring Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller will remember the singular obsession of DeNiro’s character. As Jack Byrnes, an uptight former CIA agent and grandfather to Little Jack, he is hell-bent on using “the latest” child development principles to advance his grandson’s development. So when it comes to vocabulary building he takes sign language to a new level using a “drill and more drill” learning approach only to be foiled by his prospective son-in-law’s utterance of a profanity that is readily imitated by Little Jack!
When child development experts recommend talking to your baby, Jack Byrne’s approach is not what the scientific community had in mind. We can all just chill and do a great job of parenting and language development with less obsession. Here are a few ideas: More >
Temperament: The Core of Your Baby’s Disposition
All during your pregnancy (or waiting period if your baby comes to you through adoption or surrogacy) you wonder, “What will this child be like? Is my baby going to be shy or rambunctious, sensitive or easy going?”
In the first few weeks I think most of us are just trying to get in sync with our baby’s rhythms, tracking hunger, food intake, elimination, and sleep patterns. If your baby is colicky, you’re just trying to stay sane and find a solution to soften Baby’s discomfort. We simply watch, fascinated, as our babies stretch, fret, frown, and coo, no matter if they are awake or asleep. And it’s not long before we hear ourselves telling someone, “Oh my baby likes to be held like this—and you demonstrate the curl and wrap, the shoulder pat or the chest nest—whatever you call Baby’s sweet spot of comfort. By four months you become More >
Watching Babies Think: When Baby Starts Walking, Mom Starts Running!
Baby’s First Steps
For most of us moms, Baby’s first steps signal so much in terms of our own development as a parent. We’ve made it through the trenches of infancy, where we were uncertain about every move and decision made on behalf of our totally dependent child. Our maternal confidence has evolved because things are progressing. Our babies are not only alive and well; they’re standing, babbling, and balancing themselves to walk those adorable unsteady steps into our arms. This moment is an accomplishment unto itself.For our babies, those first steps signal to them that they are doing something new that makes you very happy. And being eager to please, your baby reads your cues and is excited about trying very hard to stay balanced and move forward at the same time. But it doesn’t take very long before babies revel in what they More >
Watching Babies Think: Reaching, Grabbing, and Putting It in the Mouth
When my youngest daughter was born, my husband told me not to fret about his expertise with child care. After all, she was “just an infant—feed ’em and change ‘em and they’re just fine.” I knew he knew better, but like most of us moms, I was a bit more obsessed with the details.
When my husband joked about sticking to the basics, he was reminding me that nature really runs the show in human development. We are hard-wired for thinking, speaking, and moving. Typically, developing babies will walk and talk whether they get practice or not. However, the research also informs us that there is nothing more motivating for a baby to use nature’s assets than the loving encouragement of a parent.
Okay, it can get a little boring, watching an infant think. Let’s face it; you’re doing all the encouraging talk, while baby just appears to be More >
A Different Kind of Milestone: Watching Babies Think
If you’ve ever seen the 1989 movie Look Who’s Talking you’ll remember the infant, Mikey, whose thoughts are voiced from the moment one sperm leaves the donor and beats out the other sperm to fertilize the egg, creating a fabulous little boy. Unfortunately Mollie has been dumped by the baby’s father and Mikey is determined to have a Dad. He sees possibilities in Jake, the cab driver who befriends Mollie and becomes Mike’s sitter. For most of the movie we know Mikey is thinking because he is voiced over admirably by Bruce Willis. But we really KNOW what Mikey is thinking by his facial expressions, eye movements, and perfectly timed emotional outbursts. Despite his youth, he uses every infant strategy imaginable to successfully orchestrate a love story between his single mother and the cab driver.
When I watch this movie I am reminded More >
