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anika 4 months old

Observations at 4 Months Old

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Tummy time at 4 months old

Anika turned 5 months on Tuesday and I love to do these observation post just to record the memories because time seems to be passing so fast! Hey 5 months already??

“I observe little children; I sensed their needs; I tried to fulfill them; they call that the Montessori method.”- Dr. Montessori

I will be honest, 4th month has been challenging for me in many ways. Little miss went through her 19th week growth spurt + sleep regression + object permanence at the same time. I have spoken in details about the 19th week growth spurt and 4th month sleep regression on Instagram. I will talk about object permanence here….its when babies are still learning that objects can exist even when they can’t see them. It meant a lot of screaming for every minute, I moved away from her eyesight. So we have been baby wearing a LOT and my back is a bit stuffed…But challenges are a part of life just like the good times and each day, I am immensely grateful for my daughter. So I am not complaining but sharing cause I want to be honest in my journey as a mum…. I should record observations every week cause I dont seem to remember much but here are a few things I remember….

  • Obsession with hands and feet has been intense this whole month.
  • Loves grabbing her left toes and taking both her socks out. Right toe seems a bit more challenging to grasp. It’s amazing to see minor muscular differences in both sides of the body from such a young age.
  • From week 18 onward, she was constantly ‘arching her back’ while feeding, playing etc. Well its a preparation for rolling! I supported her upper back while carrying her so she was safe.
  • Towards the end of 4th month she started rolling from her tummy to her back. It was done obsessively like 30 times a day at least. It was almost like she could not help but had to roll over 5 times before her body stopped arching back and she could sleep.
  • Rolling on her right is much easier than her left.
  • She hardly misses grasping anything now. Her grasp has come a longgg way this month.
  • She has always been a very alert baby but this month her personality has shown even more. She is super happy, giggly, chatty and also very strong willed 🙂
  • She now responds to her name.
  • She watches my every move and wants to imitate me all the time. I have been eating on the floor so she could see how I eat. This resulted in some serious tantrums if I didn’t give her something to eat, so yes at 4 months she started chomping on solids like a pro. More on this later…
  • We have some new sounds this month, my favorite is when she says ‘ayeee’.
  • She seems to be imitating me every minute. Every evening, we dance and this is her (and my) most favorite part of the day! I dance and sing songs and she vigorously moves her hands and legs with big smile trying to match my moves 😀
  • She “demands” lullaby before each nap time. I have been singing her Annie’s song (John Denver), You are my sunshine, Top of the world, I just called to say I love you (Stevie Wonder) from when she was in my tummy and its fascinating to see how much she loves listening to me sing these tunes(probably the only one who does ;-)). She kicks her legs hard attempting to dance, while I sing.
  • She can sit unaided and arches forward for about 10-15 seconds.
  • She absolutely loves watching trees and feeling all the world around her. I take her around the house and let her feel whatever she looks at. Some favorites are door knobs and taps.
  • Turns out she is a tummy sleeper! We still co-sleep at night and use carrier during day naps.
  • Our routine at the start of 4th month, looked like this. Towards the end of 4th month, her awake time increased to 2-2.5 hours and our routines have completely changed. I will post our new routine soon.
  • We loved doing heaps of work/ play together. Check out 20 Montessori inspired activities she loved at 4 months old.
  • This month, she seemed increasingly restless and demanding of my attention, which in turn decreased her ‘work’ and time for ‘concentration’. Although I know this is a developmental thing and I am doing all in my will to make her feel secure, I wonder if there is something else I could do…..
  • She can pick up toys from her side.
  • Teething continues and tends to get more intense at night time.
  • Oh wait, did I mention she loves water? Apart from splashing in bath tub every night we do a small water play in our bathroom sink after breakfast.
Loves water play in the bathroom sink

All in all she grew up heaps this month, physically (check out those thighs :-)) and with her skills. I love my life as mumma to this precious ray of sunshine.

20 Montessori Inspired Activities at 4 Months old

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At 4 months old, babies have discovered their hands and feet, they are refining their grasp and are very aware/fascinated with the outside world. Since Anika’s awake time has increased to 2 hours, we can do lots more than feed, change, concentrate on Montessori mobiles and tummy time 🙂

At 4 months old, Anika is obsessed with hands and feet. Here she is catching her toes and watching how mine move..

I recently posted several activities we love doing at 4 months old on Instagram. I am thrilled with all the feedback. Anika will be 5 months on this weekend, so I thought I should share all the various activities we have enjoyed doing this past month. To reiterate from my last post, these are all extra’s, the most important thing a baby needs is you (primary caregiver) and your loving attention.

Let’s start with the activity that got over 30 K views and 750 likes on Instagram :-O

  • Balloons loosely tied to the wrist- Between 3 and 6 months, the robotic arm and leg movements begin to disappear and this is replaced by more conscious and graceful movements. One of our favorite ‘rainy day’ activity for concentration + movement refinement is exploring loosely tied helium balloons on wrist. If you watch the video, you will see how much babies enjoy balloons. Any play with balloons should always be supervised.
  • Dance with bell socks- Here is a proof that babies learn through imitation. That’s why its always important for me to reflect on all I do and say. Dancing together with bells is a great way for us to connect and for Anika to practice rhythmic movement. She had been gifted these rattle socks and I made mine from inserting 2 loose bells in a pipe cleaner and tying it around my ankle.
  • Wooden figure mobile– Mobiles are a wonderful aid to concentration in the first few months of life. We have loved the Montessori mobile sequence during the first 3 months. At 3.5 months, we changed to this whales mobile, which helped in visual development through realistic shape and movement. At 3.5 months Anika started ‘grasping’ the whales instead of watching and batting them, so we changed to the ring/ bell chimes mobile.
Her longest loved whale mobile
Whales mobile provides a great stimulation for ‘grasping’ and
when they do, its time for bell chimes mobile
  • Bell chimes mobile– This is a fun and exciting extension to the Montessori ‘ring on ribbon’ mobile. I did a DIY ‘elastic on ring’ mobile, but Anika didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as she loved clashing the bells (cause and effect) on her bell chimes mobile.
Bell chimes mobile has been great for grasping with
a very pleasant soothing effect of the chimes
Still a great challenge to grasp during tummy time but its work in progress…
Anika enjoying a simple DIY Montessori elastic on ring mobile
  • Provide grasping opportunities on back and tummy– At 4 months, it’s all about ‘grasping’. Apart from trying to grasp everyone’s nose, lips and hair :-D, Anika has loved working with a variety of grasping toys.
Anika loves grasping her Hevea star ball which can be easily attached to any playgym
Tie double knot to silk scarf and hang it on your playgym. They are great for grasping and mouthing 🙂
All down 🙂
  • Water play in the sink- One is never too young for water play! Most babies love playing with water. At 4 months old, babies can’t sit independently but they are developing stronger spine muscles to hold the supported sitting position for few minutes. We do a short water play in the sink every afternoon before getting changed and recently its become the highlight of the day for Anika. She splashes with her hands and feet and loves feeling her hands under running water. She is incredibly fascinated with the tap as well and is trying to figure it out.
Never too young for water play 😉 Sink works well at this age.
  • Go Outside- We go outside everyday (unless windy) and Anika kicks with excitement as soon as I bring her warm clothes out. She cooes and chats with the trees and loves each minute outdoors. I have spoken more about exactly why and how we do it in ‘Forest school for babies’.
Nature is a great tummy time incentive
  • Play with various textured balls- Balls are such a wonderful open-ended and sensorial toy. At 4 months old, we are using them to refine our grasp, feel different textures, taste them 😉 and encourage movement.
Grasping the crochet ball during tummy time
Since babies love bringing their hands together at 4 months. Holding various textured balls with both hands strengthens their hand muscles.
  • Science for babies- We have not introduced any bath toys yet. Anika is too busy cooing with me, splashing or chewing on her face cloth during bath time. So this set up with stones sinking at the bottom and duck floating was really fascinating for a little 4 month old.
First experience of sink and float for babies
  • Let them feel– the world and people around. Babies love feeling people’s faces, hair, clothes etc with their hands. They also love feeling everything in the environment, from a metal tap, wooden door to sand. Since their hand to mouth reflex is still not super quick, this is a wonderful age to let them feel their world.
Let them feel various textures in nature.
This book is our current favorite with lots of different textures to feel
  • Introduce the home environment- In the first 6 months, babies make a mental picture of the home environment so they are ready to go, once they start crawling 🙂 Anika absolutely loves it when I take her around the house and show her how the washing machine works or how to rotate the door knob. These are their “first practical life” lessons. We aid this by baby wearing and doing tummy time in various nooks and corners of home.
Anika gets to touch and feel all things around home and food is her favorite 🙂
Tummy time at random places around the house keeps her entertained without toys+ encourages new discoveries. Here she discovered, her hands slide under the mat and disappear!
  • Give them real-life things to explore-More than any toy, Anika loves to observe us do “real-life” things, like eat and brush. What intrigues babies the most at this stage is how our hands and feet move while doing those things. With the recent introduction to solids, she is figuring out how to hold a spoon and loves exploring this. She also loves playing with random things like my wooden bangle, house keys, remote control for heat pump etc. Please note, we only started giving her these ‘real objects’ towards the end of 4th month, once she had mastered the hand control enough to not hurt her face/ eyes.
Exploring a spoon and working out ‘the hold’
  • Let them watch the world- At 4 months old, babies are now more comfortable with the world around them. Every little thing amazes them, so we try to give Anika as many real-lie experiences as possible. She loves watching rain fall, watching cars drive past, people walking by….
Watching the rain fall is a wonderful sensorial experience for babies
At 4 months, babies can perceive the world of smooth transitions and love watching cars and people pass by..
  • Yoga with mum- For the past 3-4 months, I have found it impossible to take out time for self-care (yoga for me). Until recently, I figured yoga with Anika on the same mat would be kind of fun + my bit of ‘role modelling’. Yoga has had an immense impact on my life and as Anika is busy absorbing everything I do, I hope this becomes an integral part of her life too. Anika is obsessed with hands and feet and seeing my body move in different ways and from a different angle inspires her to move and ‘experiment’ more with her body too. Sometimes we do it for 2 minutes and sometimes 10 minutes, but something is better than nothing. For Anika, she is fascinated and trying to move too!
Watching mama’s hands and feet do funny things!
Never too young for yoga! Role modelling encourages her to move too.
  • Give them pictures to look at- We have loved these black and white cards from etsy in the first 4 months. Since she now moves 180 degrees and sometimes even moves 360 degrees during tummy time, I set up various cards/ pictures to encourage movement.
Looking at our favorite black and white images, which is a great tummy time incentive to move
  • Give them space and time to work on themselves- As a rule of thumb, Anika does tummy time (since day 4) as soon as she wakes up from a nap. We dont disturb her concentration, unless she calls us. This time/ space is essential for babies to work on their skills. We let her do this wherever we are and always respond to her needs but if she chooses to just work by herself, we respect that too. If you do use swings, bouncers or walkers, ensure that baby has ‘floor time’ as it is crucial for their growth and development.
All of this month has been about doing the ‘flying’ move during tummy time to build core strength for rolling + crawling
  • Practical life for babies- is watching adults do chores. In a Montessori classroom, adults do “presentations” to demonstrate the work. In home environment a baby is constantly watching the adult and absorbing “how things are done”. We like to include Anika in our daily life by getting her on our eye level while one of us do the chores and let her see us. This absolutely fascinates her! Concentration while absorbing chores is 100%.
Practical life for babies= watch us do chores
  • Sing and play instruments- We can’t play any musical instrument but randomly strum this ukelele (last Christmas present for hubby) and sing songs and dance every night. Hallelujah to screen free house! And I promise, babies think music is music even if you don’t know what cord you are playing 🙂
Trying to strum the ukelele like mama and daddy
  • Play dates- While babies love looking at other babies pictures in the books, what they love even more is seeing them in real-life. At 4 months old, babies are increasingly aware and bonding with other babies is a wonderful opportunity for them. During Anika’s first play date, she and her little buddy looked at each other and both simultaneously squealed in excitement and disbelief!

Hope this post gave you some ideas on fun ways to explore the world while aiding your babies development. Even though, I have tagged this as ‘4 month old’ activities, these will be enjoyed on repeat for us till at least she is 6 months old. Any more to add?