Physical Friday: Physical Development

Motor milestones are the most anticipated in a baby's development: rolling over, crawling and finally walking! we anxious anticipate each of these skills to develop in our children. But there is so much more to physical development that often goes unnoticed. A few of my favorites are bringing hands to midline and the pincer grip. I can't wait for you to discover the joys of all the motor milestones: gross and fine motor, alike.

Things to know about children's physical development:

• Crawling is actually not a developmental milestone that is tracked because it's not necessary for walking.
• Gross Motor skills are large muscle group movements, e.g. walking, rolling, standing up
• Fine Motor skills are small muscle movements, e.g. using fingers to grasp, clapping, writing

Browse through all the Physical Friday posts.

Thinking Thursday: Cognitive Development

A baby's mind is such an unknown! What are they thinking? What do they remember? How do they form thoughts? So many things we wonder about, and yet so little we actually know. So we sit, wait and watch for signs that our children are making progress in their cognitive development. The first time they smile we know they are associating our face, voice or smell with a pleasant feeling. Cognitive development includes everything that causes the brain to make connections between the child and the outside world.

Some things to know about cognitive development:

• Repetition strengthens children's understanding.
• Memory, literacy, language are all a part of cognitive development.
• Babies begin cognitive development by moving from reflexes to intentional actions.

Browse through all Thinking Thursday posts.

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Musical Mondays: Rhythmic Development

Rhythmic development is a very informal category of child development. So informal, in fact, that I can probably claim that I made it up! But in all seriousness, music is a fun part of a child's life! Each Monday we will look at how to incorporate music, rhythm, dance, anything with a beat into your day. The point is to get moving and don't stop (until they crash at nap time!)



Here are some things to know about children and music:

• Rhythm helps children understand the structure of words and sentences in language.
• Moving to a beat helps children develop coordination and balance.
• It's a great way to explore abstract concepts like feelings.
• When words are set to music, they are easier to remember (Think of the ABC song)

Browse through all Musical Monday posts.

About Me

Welcome to my energetic and often chaotic corner of the world! I am Amber, the mother of two girls, a toddler and a baby. We pretty much spend our days playing and cleaning. I know mothers are biased, but I think my toddler is rather brilliant for her age. It has required a lot of creativity on my part to keep her not just entertained but also engaged in her own development.

Before embarking into the realm of motherhood, I was a professional research assistant (sounds fancy, huh?) on a research project involving assessing infant development. In a nutshell, we played with babies engaging them in specific tasks to evaluate how they were progressing in their development. A lot of the games I play with my children come from these assessments and have given us hours of enjoyment.

Currently we participate in a Music Makers class and are beginning our own in January 2009. I also volunteer as a laptime teller at our local library. A lot of the songs and fingerplays you'll see here come from these experiences.

I look forward to sharing info, activities and products that will help you find fun ways to encourage your child's development. To cover the spectrum, I'll be posting about physical development, cognitive development and rhythmic development.

Please email me with any ideas you'd like to share or questions you'd like answered! I can be reached at becausebabiesgrowup [at] gmail [dot] com. I look forward to hearing from you!

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