Babies love looking at faces, and this cute activity is a great way to get your little one looking at his or her own.
Lie some place comfortable with your baby, like a soft blanket, and hold a hand mirror up over your faces. You can just gaze at first, or point out facial features.
From there I moved on to making lots of different expressions, naming them as we went. Happy, silly, sad. Oh no, grumpy!
Your baby might even try to mirror what you’re doing!
Travis keeps asking when his baby sister will start talking I’ve been setting his expectations, telling him that first she’ll go from purely instinctual noises (the nehs and the hehs to cooing, from cooing to babbling, from babbling to syllables, and finally from syllables to real words.
Well, the time has come for the cooing stage! Veronika is just starting to make vocalizations, trying to “talk” back to us, and Travis (and I!) are delighted.
To encourage these noises, take a quiet moment face-to-face with your child, either in a bouncy seat, or on your lap.
I made cooing noises to Veronika, and waited for her to coo back in response. In addition to adorable noises, you’ll get some cute faces.
This early on, you can focus on the vowel sounds: aahs, ohhhs, ooohs, and eeehs are all early to come to a baby.
Travis loved pitching in, making sounds and waiting for Veronika to “talk” back. A great activity for engaging big siblings, and for helping your child’s language development along.
joyful parenting 