7 Activities To Keep Your Baby Active During The Winter
The leaves are changing, Thanksgiving is right along the corner, and the temperatures are dropping! It is so important to keep your entire family active during the winter months, including your infants. Many area community centers have “Mommy and Me” and “Gym and Swim” classes that encourage fine and gross motor activities. Local music centers also have specialty classes just for the little ones. There are still plenty of great activities that you can do indoors with babies to keep them active and achieve those gross motor milestones along the way.
Below are some fun activities to do with your little ones outdoors and indoors as the weather turns colder.
1) After a diaper change when your baby is still on the changing table, ‘bicycle’ their legs in a rotating movement from their hips and knees. This reciprocal motion is great for learning to crawl and walk!
2) If you have a dog, include your babies in the daily dog-walking. Quick, ten- to fifteen-minute walks with your kiddos that can walk or be pushed in the stroller get them (and you!) out into the fresh air. As you are walking, talk to your children about the nature around them and how the seasons change the trees, grass and temperatures. As a rule of thumb, dress your babies in one layer heavier then you would yourself. Read more
The number one reason that parents contact myself and the various therapists at North Shore Pediatric Therapy is to find out whether or not their children are developing and progressing at a normal rate. When should my child crawl? When should she start speaking? At what age should he be walking? These are all questions that we find ourselves answering on a daily basis. Parents often are not privy to this information. If only children would come with an instruction manual. Each child develops at a different rate, which is found to be dependent upon several factors including environmental influence (exposure to a variety of experiences) to genetic predisposition. That being said, there are stages of development that every child will reach in a hierarchical order. The main areas of development include a child’s motor ability and his or her language functioning. Language functioning can then be broken down into two main areas: receptive language, which is the child’s ability to listen to and follow auditory demands, and expressive language, which is the ability to provide comprehensive responses. Below is a chart for the major stages of motor and language development along with typical ages in which the child should reach the stage. 
Warm weather is finally here and it’s a great time to gear up the family for bike riding. Here are a few tips that will help ease the transition to a two-wheeler.