Today is COMMUNICATION day.
I'm spending some quality one-on-one time with my 1 year old today. We are relaxing on the playroom floor together, clapping hands and playing peek-a-boo.
Our wonderful lawn care people arrived, so it's off to the window to observe, communicate what we see and, of course, wave hello!
These little things - clapping, waving, playing peek-a-boo - are all important communication skills for babies. We have communicated an action to our child, then they learn to copy it and use it at an appropriate time (waving bye-bye to Daddy in the mornings as he goes off to work).
Clapping hands to music is a great way for kids to formulate a response to an outside stimuli - they hear the music, listen to the beat and clap. Eventually they will learn to clap to the beat of the music, or, if not so musically inclined, close to it! :)
Clapping in response to something great they did (like eat all their dinner) expresses to them an appreciation of their completed task, and kids love to be appreciated, and see and hear your approval of them! Clapping also provides good hand/eye coordination.
During our play on the floor we played peek-a-boo. My baby loves this game and plays it often. She is at the point now where she does it herself, and knows it always gets a good (laughing) response from us. Anytime I say "Where's baby?" she will start to play peek-a-boo, with a towel, blanket or even just her hands. So cute, lots of fun, and a great communication tool.
In the last few weeks she has also started waving. For the longest time she would just observe us showing her how, but not even try to copy it. Then one day, out-of-the-blue, she did it, and hasn't stopped since. Babies will develop at their own pace - she was just waiting until she had it down-pat, and could cue it up perfectly (waving at Daddy going to work!).
Sometimes it is hard to have one-on-one time with my baby with my 3yr old always wanting in on the action, but it is important to establish this special time for each child to show them how important they are to me. And it is so much fun for me too! Have fun!
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