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Yes, I tried to make the title rhyme. đ
I am currently on maternity leave and it has been a long but short 6 weeks since my baby girl was born.
At such an early age, babies do three things: eat, sleep, and poop đ©. We often do not focus on their language/communication, cognitive, motor development until a few months down the road. I am one to begin enriching a little one early. Baby girl has been making wonderful strides in lifting her head during our tummy time sessions. Babies can be placed on their tummies for tummy time as early as a few days for as long as they tolerate. Book time and tummy time are enjoyable activities for both baby and parent! Place a high contrast visual 8-10 inches from their face and see their eyes widen with interest or do tummy time on your chest so they are rewarded with seeing your loving smile when she lifts her head. You can see in the above picture that this baby appears engaged in black and white pictures due to the high contrast. Babies do not have good color vision until about 5 months of age.
Young ones also tend to respond well when we speak with exaggerated articulation, higher pitch, and greater facial expressions. This manner of speech is called motherese (also referred to as fatherese, baby talk, parentese) and seems to come naturally to adults when interacting with babies. Use of motherese may give young ones important first lessons in social interaction through eye contact, turn-taking, and exposure to speech sounds. I personally cannot help myself from singing, rhyming, and making fun sounds and faces at and with my baby. She seems to love it and has recently responded with smiles and squeals.
While modeling adult language use is also important in speech and language development, baby talk/ motherese/parentese/baby talk can engage a baby in her early months. Modeling adult language is important once children reach toddlerhood so that she/he does not get in the habit of using "baby talk" when communicating with others.
Here are some of the books and toys my 6 week old baby is enjoying:
Here is a link to toy and play ideas for older children as well.
Enjoy playtime with your kiddos! Children learn through play :) Please message me with any comments and questions! I love to chat
Liz