The Examiner: 1 to 6 Months

Buy this book »

Age (months): 1

Motor: Moves limbs reflexively. Lifts head while on stomach but cannot support head while body held upright; Has coordinated side-to-side eye movement.

Cognition: Cries from distress. Remembers an object that reappears within 2½ seconds.

Socialization: Establishes eye contact with mother. Quiets when held; adjusts body to person holding. Smiles.

Communication: Responds to human voice, which usually has quieting effect. Cries for assistance. Makes pleasure sounds, quasi-resonant nuclei.

Age (months): 2

Motor: Moves arms in circle smoothly; swipes at objects. Holds head up briefly while on stomach; raises head while sitting supported. Opens and closes hand; holds for few seconds.

Cognition: Visually prefers face to objects. Repeats own actions. Excites in anticipation of objects. Increased awareness of stimuli.

Socialization: Excites when sees people; has unselective social smile. Prefers touch and oral stimulation to social stimulation.

Communication: Distinguishes different (speech) sounds. Makes more gutteral or "throaty" gooing.

Age (months): 3

Motor: Lifts head and chest while prone; holds head up with minimum bobbing while sitting supported. Can swallow voluntarily. Reaches and grasps; swipes at dangling objects. Kicks more forcefully.

Cognition: Attains full focus; can glance smoothly between objects. Visually searches for sounds. Exploratory play. Stops sucking to attend to voice.

Socialization: Visually discriminates different people and things; recognizes mother. Has selective social smile. Sleeps most of the night.

Communication: Coos single syllable (consonant-vowel). Turns head when hears a voice. Responds vocally to speech of others. Makes predominantly vowel sounds.

Age (months): 4

Motor: Can turn head in all directions; complete rollover. On stomach: Raises head and chest on arms. Occasionally opposes thumb and fingers; grasps small objects put in hand; brings objects to mouth.

Cognition: Localizes to sound. Stares at place from which object is dropped. Remembers visually for 5-7 seconds. Recognizes mother in group; sense strange places and people.

Socialization: Pays attention to faces; discriminates different faces. Looks in direction of person leaving room. Anticipates being lifted; laughs when played with.

Communication: Babbles strings of consonants. Varies pitch Imitates tones. Smiles at person speaking to him.

Age (months): 5

Motor: Sits supported for up to half an hour. Rolls from stomach to back. Can be easily pulled to stand. Has partial thumb opposition; swaps objects from hand to hand.

Cognition: Recognizes familiar objects; anticipates whole object after seeing a part, is capable of 3-hour visual memory. Explores by mouthing and touching. Remembers own actions in immediate past.

Socialization: Discriminates parents and siblings from others Imitates some movements of others. Frolics when played with. displays anger when objects taken away.

Communication: Vocalizes to toys. Discriminates angry and friendly voices. Experiments with sound. Imitates some sounds. Responds to name. Smiles and vocalizes to image in mirror.

Age (months): 6

Motor: Turns head freely. Sits straight when slightly supported or in chair. Balances well. Reaches with one arm. Turns and twists in all directions. Creeps.

Cognition: Looks and reaches smoothly and quickly. Inspects objects. Reaches to grab dropped objects.

Socialization: Differentiates social responses. Prefers people games, such as peekaboo. Feeds self finger food. Explores face of person holding.

Communication: Varies volume, pitch, and rate. Vocalizes pleasure and displeasure: squeals with excitement, intones displeasure.