At three months of age your baby is able to hold her head up and she may even smile at you. She might not even mind tummy time. Lay out her special blanket, place her on her tummy, get down in front of her, and snap away. Trying different angles and perspectives will add character to this type of portrait and a digital camera will afford you the ability to shoot over and over again until you get the best shot.

At six months of age your little baby boy can sit up or “tripod” on his own or  he may have started to learn how to crawl. This is a great time to document his developmental milestones. Sitting up and playing with his toys or lunging forward while trying to crawl or concentrating on stacking his plush block; it’s all so exciting and well worth pulling out your trusty digital camera.  Sometimes it’s the little things that mark development that we forget. A picture can help you relive these short lived times.

At nine months of age your daughter is standing and possibly cruising the furniture. She’s eating all kinds of new foods and might even be feeding herself while in her highchair.  Playtime includes peek-a-boo, looking at big picture books, and maybe a push walker toy that helps stimulate the next phase.  These are all prime times to mark with a picture or two!

The months fly by and suddenly your baby boy is a one year old.  This is an extra special time because the possibilities are endless. He’s walking, talking, and learning something new everyday. Making sure to record these marvels will ensure that the busy days of growing up aren’t forgotten or lost. You can look back on this time and be amazed that your little boy has met all these wonderful milestones, and then some.

Photographing all the various developmental phases allows us as parents to look back and cherish those special times. Those special times that are all too fleeting, but oh-so spectacular when you reflect upon them. And with all the photo print deals going on these days, be sure to snap as many as you can!

A baby’s unselfconscious laughter is one of the happiest sounds you’ll ever hear. But did you know that by playing with your baby, you’re doing much more than simply having fun?

Those adoring gazes you share; all those games of patty-cake; the suspense-filled moments waiting for the jack-in-the-box to appear and the excited laughter when it does, are all helping baby develop an optimistic outlook on life and an ability to regulate his own moods.

Newborn babies are helpless in more ways than one. Unable to affect their own circumstances in even the smallest of ways, they’re also unable to control their own feelings. When they’re sad, they’re sad. There’s nothing they can do on their own to change their emotional state. They depend entirely on mom, or other caregivers, to soothe and comfort them; to help them navigate out of a sea of unpleasant sensation into calmer waters.

In fact, experts say, the job of regulating a baby’s inner state is one of the most important tasks of early parenthood. A mom who is responsive to her baby’s cries is teaching him that it is possible to move from a state of distress to one of contentment.

Of course, before many months have passed, baby will have to learn how to accomplish the feat for himself.

And this is where playtime comes in.

When you spend time playing with baby, making him coo and smile and laugh, you’re initiating and – most important – sharing his pleasurable experiences.

All this sharing, or what experts call “positive amplification” of baby’s emotions, helps baby learn to invoke pleasurable sensations in himself and to tolerate greater intensity of sensation before becoming overwhelmed.

And you thought you were just playing peek-a-boo!

About the Author:
Karen Millard is writer-in-residence at http://www.FeedYourOptimism.com Give your optimism a boost and learn how you can make a difference in this world!