With all of the world calling out, fresh and new in the eyes of a baby, now’s the best time to start your infant on the road to conversation. And I don’t mean “conversation” in a way that will turn your baby into a reading Einstein at 6 months of age.
I’m talking about relationships – guiding infants into a world of words that will stay with him throughout life, and show him how to relate to other humans through our gift of speech.
So how do you converse with someone who’s noises consist entirely of grunts, burps, farts, and whining? The same way many of us do with our husbands – only with a bit more enthusiasm. 
Just talk! And keep talking. Pause at times to allow him to respond (a coo, sigh, or arm jiggle)….then talk some more.
But what, may you ask, should you talk about? Anything.
NARRATE YOUR DAY
Are you changing a diaper? Walking through the park? Listening to the radio, or buckling a seat belt? Describe what is going on. Tell your baby what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are doing it. He may not understand right at this moment, but you are exposing him to an important facet of human existance – language, vocabulary, and grammatical structure. His ears are tuning in and brain cells are rapidly firing to make way for the connections that will enable speech and understanding later on.
Studies have shown that babies and toddlers understand far more words than they are able to vocalize. Just because your infant can not say “tree” doesn’t mean you can’t tell him what the gigantic, fascinating brown and green moving thing in the park is. Describing your day and naming objects in your baby’s environment in such a manner is a wonderful, caring way to hold conversations with your baby. Using proper nouns for everything is preferred (“Mommy’s bag”, “Jack’s diaper”) as babies have a hard time grasping the mental concept of pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).
Also, be careful to avoid ungrammatical baby talk such as the “Wookey at the wittle bitty witty kkkuuutee ducky”. Although using a high pitched mothering voice is fine (as babies tend to prefer a more femalish voice), speaking in baby gibberish has been shown to actually slow verbal development in children.
MAKING UP SILLY SONGS
Don’t have a Celine Dion voice? Your baby won’t care. Sing till your heart’s content! If you know how to rhyme two words (or even if you don’t know how to rhyme), you can make up songs to sing to your infant. At this stage, the sound of mommy or daddy’s voice is the most comforting, beloved thing in his small world. Sing-song-y melodies introduce rhythm and music into his brain, stimulating special cell connections.
In our home, each of our family members (even our pets) have their own “special song” that gets sung to them. The songs are just short, rhyming ditties sung to a familiar tune – but it offers a comfort that can’t be found in mass marketed songs and it creates a special bond with our family.
For instance, Jack’s song goes like this:
Mommy loves her baby,
Her tiny little baby,
Mommy loves her baby,
And Daddy loves him too.
Yes we love our baby,
Our beautiful little baby,
Yes we love our baby,
Jack-Even Elijah (Insert Our Last Name Here).
If you aren’t comfortable with making up songs, feel free to borrow any one of the magnificent children’s songs you remember from childhood (B-I-N-G-O, The itsy bitsy spider, Old McDonald, This Old Man, Row Row Row Your Boat) or head over to Walmart and pick up one of their $7.00 preschool CD’s. The 150 adorable children songs on there are well worth the small investment if your memory for childhood tunes has faded!
RECITING POETRY
There is nothing more fun than poetry that rhymes. Silly poetry that rhymes make it even more fun. Poetry can be recited at any time, any place, and anywhere. Since Jack was born, I have been reading the Care Bears Book of Bedtime Poetry, which is filled with wonderful children’s sleepytime poetry from such great authors such as A.A. Milne and Robert Louis Stevenson. During car rides, I plug in Jack’s MP3 player to the car speakers and play a cute hour long MP3 filled with the best-ever children’s poetry set to a story line and music. And during his wakeful hours and playtime, I recite to him various little poems (such as Pat-a-Cake, Baker’s Man) complete with little hand motions. As an adult, reciting poetry will help calm nerves as well as bring a smile to your face and a laugh to your voice - which in turn, teaches your infant the needed social skill of smiling and laughing!
And of course the best source to obtain quality children’s poetry is from none other than the fabulous Mother Goose collection. (Get thee to Amazon and purchase a Goose anthology if you don’t have one already!)
READ, READ, AND READ SOME MORE
Reading opens up a vast amount of knowledge and many unique worlds. Introduce you baby early to literature of all kinds! Read aloud while nursing, during playtime, and even while sleeping (a sleepin infant’s brain is as active as when awake – processing, building connections, and growing!).
“But they don’t pay attention or don’t understand!” you might exclaim.
Who cares? Just like with narrating your day, the point of reading to your baby at this stage is not to have a rapt audience during your monologue of The Bearenstein Bears, but to introduce your infant to the rich world of language and vocabulary. Also, for babies, you have the distinct advantage of being able to read a much wider variety of literature from the New York Times to Richard Scary to Plato. Books on tape are also great choices for car rides and naptime, and can be easily be found in dollar stores and libraries nationwide. If you don’t have access to a public library or Dollar Tree, Amazon.com sells a few books as MP3 downloads and Audible has a fabulously large children’s collection, with full score music, rich voices, and appropriate sounds animating the story. A search on Google or About.com will score you many free children’s MP3 books as well – one of our all time favorites so far is Madeline.
Exposure to language is the goal – a child cannot understand a word he has never heard, and he cannot hear that word unless someone says it to him.
Again, you will not have a rapt audience (unless the visuals in Goodnight, Moon enchant him so much that he can’t tun away!) and your baby may just find more pleasure in staring at your animated face – but be assured his ears -and brain- are tuned in to the strange new sounds your voice is making!
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Tags: Homeschooling
