My daddy challenged my every faculty from my earliest moment. He looked at me as his soul, what he would have done or been, had he a father. It started at 6 months and I certainly would never recommend this, but he heard the guys on the job talking about their walking children and he was determined that I should be one of the early walkers. He placed me against the wall and of course I fell flat on my face. I don't remember this, but they told me this.
Infancy is for relationship development. I think my Daddy and I bonded very early. It is about teaching the child to trust you and know you. "Getting to know you" time. Don't mistake their inability for inattention. I think they are more attentive than we could realize. My children would remind me of things that had happened to them, when I thought they were unaware, the year before, when they were 2 or so that I thought that they would never remember. I would take at least an hour every day,{were I a young papa} playing age appropriate games with little baby-mine and introducing some of my interests also. If I am engulfed in a book of my liking, I would spend some time reading that book to baby, while bouncing or tickling toes.They need muscle stretching, we learned from Grandma Ruth. Dad would talk about his horror at watching her stretch the small infants for a few minutes everytime they went to the in-laws house. She did it to everybody and she always told us it was good for the babies. I recommend it. Range of motion exercises for baby's development of movement. Eventually they won't need it, because they will do their own things.
I don't like techy things for babies. I think it will mess up their eyes and no mirrors in the crib. Grandma Rosalee says it makes them teethe hard and we experienced it first hand with Evvy. She was the only one that we disobeyed that law with. We had to go to the hospital for her first molar, it was purple.
