I have notice that she love Baby Einstein during her 4 months to 1 year and 2 months old stage maybe because this educational show showcase puppets and good musical sounds. Believe it or not she learn to say the word tiger (without an R yet tho) and she knows the difference of a cat to a loin and to a tiger. It is slow pace and your toddlers can learn a lot of new things.Toddlerhood has two contrasting stages that can puzzle parents and caregivers. The first starts in the beginning of the second year, when a baby takes those first wildly staggering steps in an attempt to stand erect while moving unsupported. When he succeeds, joy reigns supreme!
Children are generally very trusting now. They expect adults to save them from unwise or even dangerous adventures, such as climbing up on a chair to reach the sink. Try to have eyes in the back of your head during this period.
The next stage comes in the middle of the second year. Babies begin to use their new thinking powers and may get grouchy as they figure out that parents and caregivers can no longer cater immediately to their every need. Without warning, the rules have changed: a child now has to wait a bit for dinner; an adult playmate may not be available on demand; a parent who has been a constant presence may be back at work full time.
Great Expectations
In addition, the adults in a toddler's life now expect more mature behaviors. We want toddlers to use a spoon rather than dig into food with fingers. We insist that grabbed toys be returned to their rightful owners. And, most annoyingly, we ask that the toys be shared!
Struggling to understand these new rules is hard work for toddlers. Some toddlers become more low key; others become more defiant. Both responses are attempts to cope with the sweeping changes from early babyhood — when any cry brought prompt, tender care.
Emotional Swings
Toddlers' emotions will often seesaw wildly now. On one hand, they want to be on their own and grow toward more assertiveness, self-will, and independence. ("No!" and "Do it myself" become favorite refrains.) On the other hand, they're longing to still be cuddled and protected.
The likely result is overwhelming frustration. For example, a toddler who wrestles with a puzzle piece but cannot make it fit will commonly react by sweeping the puzzle to the floor and throwing himself with passionate sobs into his caregiver's arms.
Balancing Act
So what does a wise adult do during these rocky emotional times? First, offer reassurance, and boost the child's courage to try again. If adults do not provide new challenges in judicious doses, they may dampen the toddler's motivation to grow toward more independence.
In addition, offer toddlers limited choices ("Do you want apple juice or orange juice?"), and be as patient as you can be. Anger and indignation at what parents and caregivers may view as defiance and disobedience can crush a toddler's spirit. Adult fury leads to gray moods and loss of toddler joy.
At all costs, be careful not to shame toddlers. Check your words and take care not to call a toddler "bad" for having toileting accidents, saying "no," or being clumsy. When a toddler's struggle toward independence is ridiculed, scolded, ignored, or punished, the result is often rage or deliberate hurting of others. Make every effort to support your toddler with firm, calm words and gestures. Empathize with this difficult emotional stage. Offer a hug when he dissolves into frustrated tears. If you can't be there, make sure to leave a "blankie" or other self-soother with your child's caregiver.
If you work patiently with your child to face the difficulties in the drive toward independence, he'll learn how to calm himself, wait patiently, and cope with stressful social situations. Just remember that there's no quick fix: All new emotional learning takes time.
Women, too, benefit from father involvement. Division of labor issues are the number one marital stressor, and the more support mothers get from their husbands, the less depressed they are, the happier they are in their marriages, and the better they perform their parenting duties. Finally, men themselves benefit from their own increased involvement with their families and children. Involved fathers tend to be more "generative" (giving, nurturing, and helpful), more occupationally mobile, more successful in their careers, and more likely to choose jobs that are people-oriented. In addition, men whose wives are happy in their marriages tend to be happier themselves. And men who are happy in their marriages are generally more involved in their fathering role.
The environment that your baby enjoyed for nine long months in the womb was not one of absolute quiet. There was a constant symphony of sound -- your heartbeat and fluids rushing in and out of the placenta. (Remember those sounds from when you listened to your baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler stethoscope?) Research indicates that “white noise” sounds or soft bedtime music helps many babies to relax and fall asleep more easily. This is most certainly because these sounds create an environment more familiar to your baby than a very quiet room.
Many people enjoy using soothing music as their baby’s sleep sound. If you do, choose bedtime music carefully. Some music (including jazz and much classical music) is too complex and stimulating. For music to be soothing to your baby, pick simple, repetitive, predictable music, like traditional lullabies. Tapes created especially for putting babies to sleep are great choices. Pick something that you will enjoy listening to night after night, too. (Using a tape player with an automatic repeat function is helpful for keeping the music going as long as you need it to play.)
There are widely available, and very lovely, "nature sounds" tapes that work nicely, too, as well those small sound-generating or white-noise devices and clocks you may have seen in stores. The sounds on these -- raindrops, a bubbling brook or running water -- often are similar to those sounds your baby heard in utero. A ticking clock or a bubbling fish tank also make wonderful white-noise options.
You can find some suitable tapes and CDs made especially for babies or those made for adults to listen to when they want to relax. Whatever you choose, listen to it first and ask yourself: Does this relax me? Would it make me feel sleepy if I listened to it in bed?
If you must put your baby to sleep in a noisy, active house full of people, keeping the tape running (auto rewind) will help mask baby-waking noises like dishes clanking, people talking, siblings giggling, TV, dogs barking, etc. This can also help transition your sleeping baby from a noisy daytime house to which he’s become accustomed subconsciously to one of absolute nighttime quiet.
Once your baby is familiar with his calming noise, or music, you can use these to help your baby fall back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Simply sooth him by playing the music (very quietly) during the calming and falling-asleep time. If he wakes and cries, repeat this process.
If your baby gets used to his sleep time sounds you can take advantage of this and take the tape with you if you will be away from home for naptime or bedtime. The familiarity of these sounds will help your baby sleep in an unfamiliar environment.
Eventually your baby will rely on this technique less and less to fall and stay asleep. Don’t feel you must rush the process; there is no harm in your baby falling asleep to these gentle sounds. When you are ready to wean him of these you can help this process along by reducing the volume by a small amount every night until you finally don’t turn the music or sounds on at all.
Babies enjoy these peaceful sounds, and they are just one more piece in the puzzle that helps you to help your baby sleep – gently, without any crying at all.
Source: BabiesOnline
How a daughter perceives her father begins at a very early age. Her perceptions may change with age, but it seems that those perceptions can be categorized into four general types of dads: Prince, Buddy, Ghost and Boss.
PRINCE DAD
He is a knight in shining armor because he treats his daughter like a princess. He is always willing to talk to her about the things she is interested in, and he spends time doing things she likes to do, including playing tea party or doll games. When they go out to dinner, he pulls out her chair and compliments her appearance. As an adult, the daughter views her father as someone who knew how to listen and who taught her not to be afraid of being feminine.
BUDDY DAD
He is his daughter's pal. They often do things he enjoys together. He encourages his daughter to try new things, even if it is predominantly a male activity. Buddy Dad is a great storyteller, but often his stories are about things he is interested in. As an adult, the daughter often sees her father as the one who taught her to stand up for herself and strive for what she wants. He may not have taken the time to talk about girl stuff, but he always supported his daughter's choices.
BOSS DAD
He is the authority figure in the home. He doesn't spend as much time listening as he does laying down the law. His daughter sees him as harsh and sometimes critical. He occasionally spends time talking about her concerns, but he often tells her what to do. The daughter views her dad as loving but rigid.
GHOST DAD
He is the father she hardly ever sees. When Ghost Dad is home, he hides behind a newspaper or in front of a TV. He is not available to talk to anyone. He is a busy man who works hard for the family but hardly ever sees them. He is not willing or able to talk to his daughter and provide her with self-assurance. As an adult, the daughter usually insists he did show love but did not give his time. She grew up thinking that talking and spending time together is not something she can get from others.
Additional research is required to determine how behavior and other factors shape father-daughter relationships, including how the relationship influences a woman's choice in life mate…if at all. What we do know is that the bonds between dads and daughters begin very early in life.
Those "educational" DVDs may be hindering your baby's verbal development.
Want an articulate kid? Keep the TV off. Letting your infant regularly tune in to videos like Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby not only won't help boost her vocab, it may actually derail verbal development, according to a new study from The Journal of Pediatrics. Here, what study author Andrew Meltzoff, PhD, co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, wants you to know when it comes to tots and the tube:
1. It's all about age. Babies 8 to 16 months old knew an average of 6 to 8 fewer words for every hour a day they tuned in to such videos compared to babies who didn't watch them. But for toddlers 17 to 24 months old, the study found no evidence that DVD-watching did any harm -- or good. "This effect may only come into play when children are learning their very first words," says Meltzoff. (Not so surprising, considering that these videos contain very few words; rather, they're mainly filled with random abstract images like lava lamps).
"But the finding that the baby DVDs and videos do no good for babies and toddlers does not contradict the idea that well-designed educational TV, DVD, videos may be useful for some preschoolers or kindergarten children," Meltzoff explains. "What might be educational for a 3- to 6-year-old is a bit different from what helps younger children."
2. Hands down, you're baby's best teacher. "We know that children under age 2 learn language best from interacting with people, and heavy viewing of these DVDs may be taking time away from that," says Meltzoff. In fact, all babies in the study who were read to at least daily knew slightly more words than those who bonded over books less often.
3. But don't feel too guilty if you've already bought those DVDs. If your baby's logged plenty of tube time, it doesn't mean she's destined for the slow track at school. "Babies are adaptive and resilient, and there are many paths to healthy development," says Meltzoff. But instead of always relying on Baby Einstein to serve as babysitter while you chat on the phone, do try to find other ways to stimulate your increasingly curious babe. Remember, there's nothing wrong with a little downtime. Simply letting baby play on her own with a toy, a mushy picture book, or whatever her obsession du jour may be (a mixing bowl, toy cell phone, whatever) is a great way to help her make sense of the exciting world around her.
Danielle Chloe is now 1 year and 2 months old. She's a happy baby and now she's showing her love and affection for her Mom and Dad. I love her so much....
