today, I am looking at cognitive process. NebRa is now 7 months old and I have noticed a shift from the home to the outside world. Up until now, I have been clear about the environment in which he needs to develop. I must keep a constant check of my mood and the energy I am putting out, being sure it is kept positive and nurturing, always. You realize just how vulnerable babies are to the energy and influence around them; any space they occupy must be filled with love and encouragement. I have kept things quiet and calm, limit television and radio in favour of simple songs I sing out and dance to, and gentle talk and conversation between us. It has been a world of internal exploration- understanding the body and communicating with the body; motor skills being honed. I feel as a result, NebRa has developed a strong sense of Self and an understanding of his own rhythm. His crawling has led to the exploration of everything around him, and with that comes a kind of reaching out into unknown space. That space now needs to filled with family and friends. New faces mean new lessons in communication, new boundaries to be tested, new language.

This shift to the outside has led me to neighborhood programs for babies his age. Story times at the library, games and play at the early years centre. Watching him interact with the 'new' is exhilarating. You can almost see the neurons firing and creating new pathways in his mind.