Dan Wuori

Ebook readers: it’s a great time to check out my book, The Daycare Myth. From now until August 4, @TCPress is offering all e-books at a 33% discount. Use code EBOOKS at checkout. Link in the first reply below.

I’m an X/Twitter addict from way back and have no intention of leaving. But I do get lots of questions about how non-users might also access my content. If you have friends or family members who would benefit from the child development lesssons I share (or use other platforms…

Your baby is a natural born dancer. (And so are you.) Music simultaneously activates multiple regions of the brain, not least of which the motor cortex which guides rhythm and movement. This is especially true of uptempo music, which matches or exceeds your baby’s heart rate.…

Check out this little comedian. Children learn to appreciate humor from their earliest days, smiling and laughing in response to playful interaction with loved ones. But between 7-12 months, many begin to initiate the jokes themselves - repeating unexpected sounds and actions…

Your baby is born with more than 600 muscles. As you might imagine, it takes a while to their master use. We call this process “motor development” and generally think of this growth as happening in two categories: Gross motor development involves the use of the large…

Guess which hand? 😀 One of the important skills developed over the course of childhood is perspective taking (the ability to view a situation as it might be perceived by someone other than oneself). This ability relates not only to a visual sense of perspective (the absence…

Check out this expressive little one at the nail shop. 💅 While not yet speaking conventionally, there’s little question what she is trying to convey here: she wants her nails done just like everyone else. With an animated voice and her fingers outstretched for the duration…

Your baby understands language well before they can use it. 🧠 Watch this little one’s reaction when she hears the word “eat.” Her excitement is a good reminder that language development happens on two different planes simultaneously. Receptive language refers to what your…

The period from prenatal to three is the most uniquely consequential window in all of human development. It is during this period that the fundamental architecture of the brain is “wired” in ways that will serve to support - or hinder - your child’s longterm success in school…

Your toddler is watching you like a hawk. And picking up even the smallest of details. This video, shared to IG by regiane_pantoja0, might be my favorite new example. This little guy seems to like the look of a family member’s glasses as he checks himself out in the mirror.…

“Delicious pizza.” 🗣️ For his second birthday, this little guy celebrated in style. We don’t get to see his birthday presents, but this video (shared to IG by ekoonin), makes clear that his parents have spent two years giving him the gift of language. At age two, most…

Newborns are so tiny. Most full term infants weigh only 6-8 pounds at birth. But cherish (and document) these special moments while they last, because you won’t have a little baby for long. In fact, children’s growth and development in the early years is positively…

“Mirror, mirror on the couch…” Check out the complexity of this serve and return interaction between father and son (shared to TT by JD Eicher). Our hero not only mimics dad, but does so across multiple actions… before turning the tables and leading the game himself. Just…

Let’s talk about language-rich environments. One of the determining factors in both the speed at which your child develops language and the size of his/her early vocabulary is exposure to (direct & interactive) caregiver speech. Even before your baby is using language…