Attention Hudson Valley Parents: Is your baby online?

If not, then Hudson Valley babies are in the minority. According to CNN , 92% of US babies are online. “Thanks to the ubiquity of photo-sharing websites like Facebook, 82 percent of children in 10 Western countries have a digital footprint before the age of 2, according to a study by internet security firm AVG.” They’re not the ones necessarily uploading photos onto Facebook though. It’s parents, family members, friends of the family, etc. that are doing the uploading.

I am definitely guilty of doing that. When my niece and nephew were born I splattered pictures onto my Facebook page like there was no tomorrow. (They are were too cute not to be seen!)  But then I decided I wasn’t sure who exactly was looking at these pictures and deleted my photo albums. It does raise some security issues regarding Hudson Valley children and the internet, as discussed by our Child Behavior columnist Dr. Paul Schwartz. The times are a’changing and now apparently my two year old niece will soon surpass me in Facebook “friends”.

Babies love to boogie

While babysitting my nephew the other day, we were both playing with some great baby toys when  suddenly he heard the Mickey Mouse Club House theme song start to play on the TV in the background. He started weaving and bobbing his head, basically turning into a dancing machine. He loves when you dance with him or sing towards him. He will always dance back. Other than being adorable, I just read today that babies loving to dance is now a proven scientific fact.

According to a new study from the University of York in England, “Babies love a beat and dancing comes naturally to infants. The research showed babies respond to the rhythm and tempo of music, and find it more engaging than speech.” You can read the rest of the article here.  Have you noticed this is true? Leave your dancing stories here!

Teaching sign language to your pre-verbal child

Learning how to sign

 by Venessa Rinaldi, HVParent.com

 

My wonderful mother-in-law mentioned to me a few months ago about teaching Ella, my 15 month old, how to communicate with me using sign language.

I figured why not, it can’t hurt to try a few and see how it goes. So I started teaching her the sign language for “more” while she ate by putting my fingers together (picture making a puppet with your fingers) and crashing them together while I said “more?”

 

This went on for about five days taking turns practicing “more” first I did it and then I put her two hands together in the same fashion and said more. I didn’t think it was working and/or that she understood what I was doing because she would just sit there and demand in her own way for more. So I forgot about it for a while and never really tried it out again until one night during dinner.

 

My husband and I decided on dining out one night and taking Ella along with us. Halfway through the meal after she was finished with a piece of bread she was munching on I said, “Ella do you want more?” right before my eyes she did the sign for “more” and I looked at my husband and he was just as speechless as I was! Since then, she’s been only using the sign for “more” whenever she really wanted more food or hugs, or even kisses which is great to see her do. We understand each other better without the need for unnecessary tantrums and tears until I can hear her sweet little voice when she finally learns to say “mommy I want more”. What’s next? The sign for “milk”.