These days, what Baby thinks of as ‘playing’ you might call ‘flailing their hands and arms out without any apparent plan whatsoever.’ But these seemingly random movements keep them amused, build their muscle control, and teach them about the world. So really, this flailing a more important activity than it sounds. And sooner or later, all of these random movements are going to evolve into intentional movements. First it might just be exploring their face, but in no time at all, Baby will be using their hands to explore YOUR face! And by that, we mean poke you in the eye.
To this end, Baby is pretty busy figuring out their own hands – first they have to learn that they’re there – they might have reached this step already – and then they need to make the connection that these strange, five-fingered things are a part of them. After that, they'll probably decide that their hands are pretty neat, and spend some time playing with them.
All of this playing with their hands and fingers may mean it takes a little while longer before Baby starts to care too much about the many fun and exciting toys that may be taking up space in your living room. Like any good explorer, after discovering their hands, Baby may move on to exploring their feet, before moving on to unknown territory like blocks, rattles, and other brightly-colored baby toys. However, it’s likely that really engaging with these toys won’t happen for a few more months still.
You don’t need to wait for Baby to start to care about toys before the two of you can start to play, though. In fact, the best type of play for Baby right now is the kind that’s directly tied up in interacting with you. Baby’s fascination with their own fingers is just one way that Baby is more interested in other people than they are in any toy right now. Dancing with Baby, singing to them, and making silly faces are all great ways to start to play with them without having to wait for them to hop on the ‘toys’ train. In fact, it’s socializing activities like these that may help them make more developmental progress than anything else, physically, mentally, and socially.
Milestones
- Raise head up while lying on his back: Stage 2 of The Baby Sit-up Practice Program, many very athletic babies are strong enough that they can lift their heads straight up while lying on their backs. This developing head control is hugely important, as many of the major milestones coming up in the next several months revolve around the ability to balance their head and neck, and sit up.
- Opens and closes fists: Another important one! Around this time, Baby might start opening and closing their fists. This lets them perform a number of different tricks, and will help them self-feed and play with toys, among other things.
