Further Reading

Your toddler has probably been interested in their reflection for some time now they are developing their sense of themselves and will realise that the reflection in the mirror is them.  

Your baby is developing their awareness of themselves, starting to want to do things for themselves and beginning to be able to think about different possibilities. This can lead to moments of disappointment or frustration and your baby will experience these emotions with great intensity. Your baby’s social and emotional skills are closely linked to their cognitive development. They will gradually develop the cognitive skills to think through situations that are disappointing or frustrating. Now, they will feel their emotions intensely but will not have the skills to think through the situation and regulate their emotions.  

Your baby is interested in the people around them, and as their memory develops and they have a wider range of experiences you might notice them recreating familiar situations when playing with soft toys or dolls. This play is the first step towards pretend and fantasy play and supports your baby to explore familiar situations and think about the things they have noticed.

Your baby has been interested in you and in other people since they were born. As their visual skills have developed, you might have noticed them watching you as you speak to them and move around. They will now have the memory and physical skills to copy more of your gestures, so you might notice them copying simple actions in songs and rhymes.  

Your baby will have been gaining control of their arm movements and will have been reaching and grabbing objects using both hands. Now, they are able to control each side of their body separately, so can reach with one arm whilst keeping their other arm still.  

Your baby’s ability to produce sounds is ever growing. They are repeating short sounds such as ‘da, da, da’ or ma, ma, ma’. Your baby is becoming more aware that the sounds they make are positive and they are learning how to create more sounds. 

Your baby has been finding out all about their developing voice. They will have been using crying, cooing and very early stages of babble as ways of working out how their voice works and how it can make an impact and engage people around them. You will have heard their first sounds, which will sound like a very short ‘ba’ or ‘da’. These will have been produced spontaneously and singularly. 

Your baby will have been watching you as you speak to them and as you move around, they have noticed the gestures that you use and the words that you say. They have been exploring the sounds they can make and developing their movements. You might have seen them moving their mouth in different ways and perhaps moving their hands and fingers.  

All babies have different sleep patterns, but your baby was likely asleep or less alert for more of the day than they were awake at first. They will have gradually developed a more predictable pattern of being awake and asleep, and you might notice that they are awake and alert for longer periods now.  

Your baby will have become more interested in things as their vision has developed and they can see more clearly. They also will have started to reach for and touch objects, and as they do this will become more interested in exploring!