It’s fun to widen your baby’s social circle at around four months old. Whether friends or relatives, be sure to let your little one enjoy sitting in new laps and checking out new faces. You can invite folks over for a luncheon or coffee, or head to their house; either way, now is a great time to devote a day to this change of faces, especially since babies are delighted by facial features around now.

A weekend with relatives was the perfect excuse. Veronika loved checking everybody out!

Encourage people to play favorite games with your little one. She liked hearing familiar words and tunes, but from different voices. One that we love is “Trot, Trot to Boston.”

Trot trot to Boston

Trot trot to Lynn

Be careful of the bridges

That you don’t fall in!

On the last line, give a gentle dip backwards.

Family members can also read favorite books, or recite old classics like Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Either way, your baby will love the face time!

Today Veronika and I got silly with our kisses! This is a sweet little activity that builds on the Kisses to Learn game we played when she was younger. It builds vocabulary at the same time that it promotes bonding.

The goal was to see what we could kiss with, other than our lips! First was a nose to nose nuzzle kiss.

Then I rubbed my cheek against hers for cheek kisses! Forehead-to-forehead also produced a big smile.

From there, you can get really silly. Can your eyelashes kiss? Your knees? Your chins? Your ears?

Name each body part as you do the “kiss”, and get ready for smiles of delight. I loved this idea so much that I hope to continue it. As she gets older, maybe we’ll make chin kisses part of our nightly routine before bed.

Veronika had a sleepy day today…. A growth spurt perhaps! But we did fit in this sweet little activity. Instead of regular kisses to those chubby cheeks, give your baby butterfly kisses.

If you’re not familiar with the term, simply lean your face in close to your infant, and flutter your eyelashes against their skin.

This is an adorable activity to engage big siblings as well. Travis leaned in close to give Veronika a kiss this way. Don’t forget to give your big kid a butterfly kiss, too!

If you really want to up the sappy factor, make tonight’s lullaby Butterfly Kisses: