Musings of a Creative Mommy: Infants and Cognitive Thinking

Someone asked me the other day how old my son was when he started being able to understand what I said to him. I thought for a minute and realized that I hadn't really made a point to write down milestones for him. But I also realized that he was really young when he actually started being able to understand me and even react to try to answer my questions to me.

Lucas at 6 days old

I told her that I think it was around 7 months when he seemed cognitive enough to really know what I was saying to him. Now I definitely want to stress that every child learns differently and they go through stages at different times. So when I tell you my view of my child, it doesn't mean that your child is behind the norm. or anything.

I found it funny that one day in church, I was sitting by myself, with my three month old baby, and we were listening. Lucas started to get a bit fussy and I knew it was time for a feeding. I promptly asked him if he wanted to go and nurse. He communicated to me, by making a noise and looking at me, that told me that yes! he was hungry and he wanted it now! Now I know what you are thinking right now, how could a 3 month old possibly know how to communicate to me, and how could he possibly know what I was asking him? Well the people behind me didn't believe that he could understand me, and they even said afterwards to me that he really didn't know what I was saying. I laughed a little to myself and politely told them that I knew he could. Now this person, is a wonderful person, who had 6 children of herself that were all grown and most had children of their own. But she failed to realize that early cognitive behavior is possible.

I truly believe that he knew how to communicate with me, because I started early on (like from the time he was born), talking to him like I would talk to a two or three year old. This may sound funny, but that is what I did. In fact, even before he was born, I would hold my belly and talk to him. I would say things like "I can't wait to meet you", and "I love you". On the day he was born, and the moment they put him on my chest, I looked into his eyes and he looked right back at me. I said "hello! I'm your mommy!" I never stopped talking to him. When he was 5 days old he smiled at me for the first time, and he understood the love that I had for him. I would always ask when he was fussy if he was hungry. He didn't know how to answer me yet, but I was preparing him to know how.

Imagine being thrown into a foreign land, where everyone only spoke a language to you that you don't know. You wouldn't understand them at all at first, but you would after they showed you over a few months what words meant. You wouldn't have been able to understand as quickly if no one would talk to you until six months after you were there. Your brain would have observed, but you wouldn't be able to pick up the language as quickly if people had started talking to you as soon as you got there. This is the exact same concept.

My son understood me really early on, because I didn't waste even a minute talking baby talk to him, I would always talk to him like he knew what I was saying. And eventually he understood me, and now today, as he is 19 months old, he communicates with me everyday. He says words that I don't realize he knew how to say them, and if you listen closely, he will communicate what he is thinking, out loud.

Just today, he wanted to draw, and he said "I daw?" And then when he was drawing he kept saying "blue!" and he loves to say purple, but he can't say it without me telling him the color first. And every time he is in his high chair eating, when he is done he says "I'm done." It really surprises me the things that he picks up on, even hearing things from my, like "here ya go" he says that one multiple times a day.

Here he was 5 months old

The key to early talkers and cognitive thinking is; giving the right amount of attention, spending time, telling your child what is going on at every possible moment, and speaking kind words to your child. They are learning everything new. You are giving them milk, they didn't know what that was before the first time they had it. Tell them what it is. Read to them! Reading to your child is just as important as talking to them. Never leave your baby out of the conversation. If there are people over, have your baby sit up on your lap and look at them. They will sit up a lot earlier if you don't have them laying down all the time. Bumbo seats are great for babies that are trying to strengthen their little tummy muscles. Also sitting them on your lap helps as well.

Cognitive thinking is really important to start early, so that they can be set up in the very best way possible to learn how to read early and learn how to communicate their feelings early.

My little sister reading to him at 6 months old

Next stop: Potty Training! Lucas is excited for his new potty seat that goes on the toilet! He always is interested in the toilet, and he tells me when his diaper is wet. If I don't have pants on him, he will almost always take his diaper off as soon as he has wet in it.

Thank you for reading! I hope this was interesting to you. Please feel free to comment and ask questions or tell me about your experiences with potty training or anything! I love to read them.

And again, I am not trying to tell you that my baby is better than yours, I am simply telling you things that you can do to help your child to be a cognitive thinker early in life. Help your child :D Love your child.

Happy Tuesday!