BABIES AND CHILDREN Growing Up From birth to 3 months Newborn babies are amazing, because . They: every day brings new changes and developments begin to smile and visually people and objects with their eyes; track prefer to look at faces and bright colours; and ; gurgle coo can lift their head when they are on their ; tummy cry often, but feel better when held and comforted. From 4 to 6 months Babies become . They hair or hold a toy, may sleep longer and start laughing. They: more interactive grab smile and laugh, and imitate sounds they hear; learn about their body, explore their hands and feet; can sit up when helped, on the sofa or an armchair; like to and ; roll over bounce can grasp things without using their thumb; love putting things in their mouth. From 7 to 12 months At this age babies by rolling over, and standing. They will test their strength and try to . Their first steps are not far away. Babies will start to be anxious and troubled when parents leave. They: start to move around crawling pull themselves up love children’s songs; ; wave goodbye understand their name and other familiar words and say their first words ; 1 like to explore and and shake objects; bang look for toys and put things in containers; hidden can sit up all by themselves; around and can pull themselves up to stand and try to walk. creep WARM UP • Do you like babies and young children? • Have you ever babysat your baby brother/sister/ cousin? MORE Some perfectly normai babies don't say a recognizable word until their 18"' month, whereas some babies begin to communicate in words or word-sounds ("ma-ma", "da-da, "pa-pa", etc.) as early as 7 months. 1