Thick blankies will be today’s focus. The bumpy ones, the ones with fringes and mysteries stitched in.

While a versatile blanket will support your baby’s overall development, a blanket that offers interesting textures will specifically stimulate motor development, body self awareness, and intellectual development.

What an interesting blankie looks like.

Some of them are made of terry cloth.  Some double as bath towels.  Others look like a combination stuffed animal/soft blanket.  My favorites are safely constructed, boldly decorated, and have job descriptions.

One corner of the blankie might have a compelling (color-contrasting) appliqued animal or image (visual stimulation).  In another corner, perhaps there will be a soundmaker (rattle? squeaker?) embedded (auditory stimulation).  There might be corduroy patch or a fuzzy square sewn into the design so that when baby scoots around, his fingertips discover a new sensation as part of his reward for daring to explore (tactile stimulation). If the blanket is made of non-raveling felt, the edges might sport a fascinating fringe, perfect for fingering and flicking (self-soothing).  Like a good book, the blanket might offer (cloth) flaps for opening, tugging, crinkling, or closing. Again and again (object permanence stimulation).

More developmental benefits of a touchy feely baby blanket.

Settled babies (3-4 months) and older babies (6 months and up) are bringing together just the right combination of skills that help them make the most of a blanket that has stimulating features.

The following areas of development will grow as a result of tactile exploration:

• Intellectual – thinking skills first show up as curiosity.  New textures will spark new questions, finding out the answers will spark new brain connections.
• Gross motor (large muscles; arm, for example) – Each new day brings more practice at reaching out to grab items of interest.
• Fine motor (small muscles; hands/fingers, for example) – Each new grab brings an opportunity to touch, poke, squeeze the loot your baby hauls in.
• Emotional – your baby will develop his own preferences for textures.  Some children detest goopiness, some revel in it.

Tomorrow, in the finale of this series, we will see why sometimes a blankie is just a blanket.

to be continued…..

Those two things are one and the same for young children.

Efficient little babies like to check things out with the most sensitive, high-precision tools they have: their mouths.

That’s why it is so important to choose durable toys that are not choking hazards, that are not painted with poison (toxic paints), and do not contain lead.

Your baby’s mouth is a versatile tool.

At first her mouth gulped a lungful of air for her first cry, then it gulped nourishment to fuel her first days outside the womb.   One of the first things she could do was search for, and learn the feel of, your nipple — using her mouth.  Before long she began using her mouth to coo with you, soothe herself (hooray for thumbsucking!), and practice an important life-long social skill, the smile.

Your baby’s mouth is an engineering marvel.

She even has extra tastebuds in that busy little mouth of hers.  The tastebuds are distributed in a way that allows your baby to taste more, and enjoy longer, the fluids she takes in she’s in the traditional breastfeeding positions.  Those facts mean that a young child’s mouth will be more sensitive to texture and temperature, as well as taste.

Mouth exploration is a developmental stage.

A valid one.  A necessary one.  The ability to bring hands to her mouth (2 months-ish) combines with the intense interest in bringing objects to her mouth (3 months-ish).  Once she gets the object to her mouth, she will explore it with her tongue and lips.  There is a lot of information that can be gleaned from the munching that babies naturally do to a new object.  At about 5 or 6 months of age, when she’s more mobile, she’s also in more danger.  A thorough saftey-proofing is necessary.  As your older baby learns to eat solids, emerging teeth get in on the action, too.

The Year of the Mouth culminates in indispensable life skills: learning how to pucker up to kiss loved ones, eating, brushing her teeth, and someday, applying lip gloss.

One year-old attention spans are not still waters, nor do they run deep.  That is why the simplest of imitative and repetitive actions, like pretending to nod and talk along while mother is on the phone, often emerge around the age of 12 or 13 months.

Evolving from the simple to the complex, pretend play unfolds in a succession of events.  The older infant (second half of first year) has sufficient memory and brain development to keep track of objects and current events.  Emphasis on “current.”

The information (actions of other household members like folding towels, or stirring) is readily available, and tools are, as well.  At first, the accuracy of the prop matters — she thinks the best way to imitate your telephone conversation is by taking your real phone out of your real purse, and dialing!  

Later, the brain shifts from copying your behavior to creating her own, substitutes become acceptable —  a toy telephone will do, just as a Popsicle stick will easily stand in for a conductor’s baton.

Soon after, adults can observe play that includes someone or something else, such as using a bottle to feed a favorite doll.  As the toddler’s collection of events and experiences grows larger, there is a parallel expansion of the brain’s ability to grasp and keep information from those events.  The greater array of material (memories, sights, sounds) converts into much more complex scenarios of play.

Your child’s powers of observation minimally grasp and re-iterate an basic interpretation of feeding a baby:  putting a bottle to lips.  Once that imitative act is repeated, enjoyed, improved —  mastered, the child becomes able to orchestrate several factors (including tone of voice, gestures, and actions  – all of which will be repeated, enjoyed, improved, mastered) until a simple feeding becomes a longer sequence of doting on baby — complete with imaginary meal, bath, nap, and storybook.  You’ll observe play schemes that used to consist of the simple, repetitive act of placing a doll in a stroller, for example,  expand into a pretend journeys to the park or the store.