Month Two Development

Personal/social
-Smile responsively: smiles when talked to or smiled at (without touch). 90% pass at 6 weeks. Ching passes.
-Smile spontaneously: smiles without being spoken to or touched. 90% pass. Ching passes.
-Regard own hand: stares at own hand for at least several seconds. 50% pass.  Not yet.  We (mostly jokingly) put his hands in front of his face and tell him, “Regard your hand!”  Haha, it hasn’t caught on yet.

Fine Motor/adaptive
-Follow to midline: watches dangling yarn from the side of their head to the halfway point. 90% pass at 6 weeks.  Pass.
-Follow past midline: watches dangling yarn from the side of their head past the halfway point. 75% pass.  Pass.

Language
-Ooo/aaaah: makes vowel sounds. 77% pass. Ching passes.
-Laughs: laughs aloud. 50% pass.  Not yet.  I can tell he really wants to, but he hasn’t figured it out yet.
-Squeals: makes high-pitched happy sounds. 55% pass.  Not yet.  He’s too busy talking.  And we’re too busy trying to get him to say, “Aggies.”  He says, “Ahh,” and “Giii,” separately, and we’re trying to get him to put them together.  It’ll be his first word if it kills us.

Gross Motor
-Head up 45 degrees: head makes a 45 degree angle from the surface for a few seconds while on tummy (without head being turned to the side). 78% pass. Ching passes.
-Head up 90 degrees: head makes a 90 degree angle from the surface for a few seconds while on tummy (without head being turned to the side). 45% pass. Passes.
-Sit head steady: holds head upright and steady (no bobbing) for a few seconds while being held in sitting position. 35% pass.  Not yet, but he’s getting close.
-Bear weight on legs: supports own weight on feet and legs for a few seconds in a standing position (holding child in standing position and slowly loosening hand support, but not letting go). 25% pass.  Not quite.  His legs are so strong that I’m kind of surprised he can’t, but the whole locking the knees thing isn’t happening.

Things to practice for next month:

-Regarding hands:  We’ll continue putting toys in his hands to see if he’ll start noticing his hands.  We have one of those dangling toy things that we set over him while he’s propped up on the (faux) boppy.  Lately he really enjoys swatting the toys, but I don’t think it’s a matter of hand-eye coordination.  I think he’s mostly figured out that if he flails his arms things move and make noises.  But hey, one step closer to regarding his hands.

-Laughs and squeals:  There’s not too much to practice here, but I do think it’ll help if he hears laughter often.

-Holding head up and bearing own weight:  Again, not too much to practice except to let him try it frequently.