Newborns come out all curled up (hence the reason I call my kids “little squish” at this age!), and one great activity is to help them stretch out their limbs. I recommend waiting until the umbilical stump falls off before doing these moves. Veronika’s came off last night, so this morning, we took a quiet moment to stretch.

I laid her down on a soft blanket, and went through a short routine. First, open the arms wide, then cross in front of the chest.

Next, raise each arm up overhead. Stretch!

Then touch the left hand to the right foot before stretching back out; repeat on the other side.

Finally, cross the ankles and bend the legs up toward the tummy and back out again. You can also do little bicycle circles with the legs.

As we stretched, I sang little songs. Putting on soothing music, like Mozart, would be nice, too. We loved this so much that I plan to do it every morning when we can carve out a moment.