Baby's Favorite Color!

The next time your little one is playing with her blocks, watch closely. Does she rummage through the box, taking out only the blue ones?

That's what Baby L does! Blue is her fave right now!

If you pour all of her blocks out, you can see that the blue ones are scratched and banged up, while the red, green, and yellow blocks are practically new. Personally, I think it's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen! Early on, babies will sometimes start to develop preferences and favorites. And it's not limited to colors. Just a few examples include favorite sounds, favorite toys, and of course favorite foods!

At first I wasn't sure if L was choosing the blocks because of the color blue, or if it was because of the shapes. So I started watching her more closely, to see if there was a pattern.

At bathtime, Baby L digs through the foam letters in the bath tub to find the blue ones!

When she plays with her links, she gnaws on her blue links and carries them around with her, casting aside the others haphazardly!

Before dinner, we always read a couple books. Of these three books, guess which one she picks?

You guessed it. The blue one!! As a matter of fact, 123 New York is one of her all time favorite books. Right up there with Where's Baby's Belly Button and Good Night Moon.

Preferences are a sign that your baby is beginning to form categories for things. That is, L. recognizes "blue" as a category. She can discriminate non-blue things from blue things; an early and important step in her life as a learner. Just as a scientist observes, classifies, and sorts his or her specimens, Baby L is beginning to notice that not all blocks, links, or books are the same. Sorting and categorizing objects by color is just one step on her long journey toward developing an understanding of the world around her. Go Baby L!

So have fun watching closely and listening carefully to your little scientists. See what you notice. Post a comment and share!

Peek-a-boo!

Let me tell you about Baby L.'s latest craze! She is totally into all forms of peek-a-boo.

Peek-a-boo, in case you didn't know, is just right for Baby's developing sense of object permanence. That is, babies are still in the process learning that just because you can't see something, it doesn't mean it's totally gone. So, when you cover up a toy with a blankie--Baby is likely to think it disappeared, like magic. That's why peek-a-boo is so much fun. It's like magic to babies!

One way that L. and I play peek-a-boo is this: I use a blanket, burp cloth, or toy to cover my face and I say, "Wheeeeeere's mommy?!" L. giggles and screetches. Then I uncover my face and shout, "There she is!"

We also play peek-a-boo on the changing table. On the changing table, I put L.'s jingly toy lion on her eyes and I say, "Wheeeeeere's Lily?!" She screetches and laughs and I say, "Peek-a-boo!!!"

The third and final form of peek-a-boo is L.'s (and my) favorite. We go into the bathroom, where there's no outside light, and we look in the mirror. We turn out the lights, which is a little bit thrilling for a seventh month old, and I say, "Uh-oh..." and then I turn on the lights and say, "Peek-a-boo!!" She goes crazy for this one! She reaches for light switch now!

Post a comment with your favorite peek-a-boo games!

Baby L. Looks In The Mirror

Her eyes meet her own eyes

Her hand meets her own hand

She flashes a smile and giggles.

Hey, I know that person!

We move in and out of the picture frame,

Playing peek-a-boo with ourselves.

Who's that looking in the mirror?

It's you!

It's me!

It's us!

* Day 23 of the KidLitosphere Poem-A-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month.

Tiny Reader

Tiny toes
Wiggle wiggle

Tiny feet
Kicky kicky

Tiny belly-button
Pop pop!

Tiny heart
I loooooove you

Tiny fingers
Scritchy scratch

Tiny chin
Tickle tickle

Tiny nose
Sniff sniff

Tiny eyes
Peek-a-boo!

Tiny reader
One more book

Tiny dreams
Night night

* Day 9 of the KidLitosphere Poem-A-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month.

Top Ten Things to Do With a Five-Month-Old on a Rainy Day

10. Bounce in the bouncy-seat!

9. Walk around the apartment looking at things.

8. Dance to reggae in the living room.

7. Take naps.

6. Go for airplane rides on mommy's knees.

5. Practice kicking at toys in the play gym.

4. Try eating some rice cereal - but most of it winds up on the bib in the end.

3. Change lots of diapers. And a few outfits.

2. Sing our favorite songs (which include You Are My Flower, Ladybug Picnic, and Little Sack Of Sugar)

1. Read our favorite books, of course!

What are your favorite things to do on a rainy day? Post a comment and share!

How to Play The Woooooooooooooo! Game

I've always been pretty good at being silly. Having spent my entire life surrounded by small children, I'd say I'm pretty much an expert in silliness at this point.

I'm sure you've met people in your life who did not know how to be silly. In fact, you may be one of those people. So, if you happen to have trouble thinking up silly things to do with kids, here's your first lesson: How to Play the Wooooooooo! Game.

Now that Baby L. is almost five months old, she's really developing a great little sense of humor. And one thing she thinks is just HI-LAR-I-OUS is when I say Wooooooooooooooo! You have to start in a low pitch and get higher and higher up to a little squeak.

If you really want L. to crack up, you start the Wooooooooooo! from a foot or two away from her and then zoom your face in closer to hers as your voice rises. She usually cracks up by the second or third Woooooooo! Patience is key.

So, for all you non-silly people, now you know how to do at least one silly thing. When you come up with some more silly things to do, post them in a comment on this page!

Touchy Feely Books

Baby L. learned to grab things just about a week ago. She loves to grab at her toys, and especially at books. She must get her love of books from her mama!

I love it when she wraps her little fingers around the outside edges of her board books - It looks like she's about to turn a page! So cute! It's her first step toward developing concepts about print!

She loves-loves-loves her touchy feely books-- her books that have parts that are textured. Our favorite touchy feely book is Good Puppy!, a fabric book that has nice soft crinkly ears on the dogs, perfect for developing fine motor skills. Lily oogles at the vivid colors, perfect for encouraging her to study the details in the pictures. And she loves to grab on to the soft pages and pull on them (usually toward her mouth). We also love our Dwell Studio and Usborne touchy feely books.

Plus it’s just fun to say "Good Puppy!" on every other page. Indigo, our dog, loves hearing those words too! He’s never far away when I’m reading to Baby L., and his little ears perk right up when he hears us reading that one. Pretty soon he'll be turning the pages too! Good puppy.

P.S.

L. is not the only baby who loves her touchy feely books, either. Here's another mom's post on a boy, a book & a dog. Mama L & Little D love their textures (and their dog) just as much as we do!

Seeing Things in Black & White

I think I first noticed how much Baby L. loved black and white designs the day she was born. In the hospital room she stared and stared at a card that somebody had given me that was a black design against a white background. She was mesmerized by my mother-in-law's black and white striped shirt. A few weeks after she was born she began to screech with joy at the set of black and white paintings my husband and his friend had made. When I realized that black and white would make her smile - that's when I started to look for black and white things to show her.

Who knew there was a whole cottage industry of black and white products for babies? It makes sense. Doctors, scientists, and mommies have known for a long time that babies see high contrast images best, and that they see best when something is 6-12 inches away.

One of L.'s favorite things to do these days is to stare at these lovely cards from Wee Gallery. A mommy friend gave them to me one day at one of our meet-ups at the Williamsburg Y when Baby L. was just seven or eight weeks old. She loved them then, and now that she's three months old, she still enjoys them.

She loved the cards so much that I made a trip to one of my favorite baby stores, Mini Jake, and got the wall decals to match and hung them over her changing table. Now whenever she's being changed she smiles, coos and screetches at the lions, zebras, and giraffes keeping her company.

When she's looking at the animals, I talk about the designs using my best exciting baby-friendly voice (but not nonsense words or baby talk). In theory, I'm teaching her lots of vocabulary when I talk to her like this - plus, it just seems natural. What else would I do - hold the cards up silently? That would be kind of weird. Also, I noticed that she has a pretty long attention span when it comes to the cards (compared to other things) and I know that it's good for kids to learn to study things closely and carefully and for long periods of time from early on. Mostly though, I'll just do anything to make her smile. What mommy wouldn't want that?