My job is play. As a pediatric speech therapist everything I do revolves around play in some way or another; the type and tools of play vary depending on the patient and his/her needs at the time, but it all boils back down to the fundamentals of play. In the outpatient setting, however, I haven’t had the opportunity to see the development of ‘typical’ play skills in an infant. My caseload consists mostly of kiddos over 2 yrs. {younger children usually receive services in the home}. Only since having a child of my own have I been able to witness the development of communication and play in a very young baby. I would love to say I know all the milestones for babies under age one but this is all quite new to me and I am surprised every day at some of the things Charlotte is able to do; playing with this gum ball machine toy is no exception. Chris and I bought this for Charlotte for Christmas even though I knew she wouldn’t be ready for it for a while. I love this toy and use it with children in therapy almost every day; I knew I wanted Charlotte to experience this type of ’cause-effect’ play {and secretly wanted to be able to take the toy to work to add to my personal stash once Charlotte had outgrown it}.

I hadn’t invested too much time showing her how to play with this toy because I honestly thought it would be a few more months before she would be able to activate it. However, it was one that I let her explore independently quite frequently {independent = on the floor in the living room surrounded by toys while I fold clothes or clip coupons}.

My apologies for the crazy mom commentary… I was very excited!

I tried to capture another video of her putting the ball back in the top when my dad {Papa} was over visiting but my iPhone camera wasn’t able to capture it because it was too full of other photos and videos. smart phone fail. Added to tomorrow’s to-do list: sync up iPhone and clear out some space! I would be so sad if my phone died and I lost some of the great photos on it… gotta start keeping up with that.