Nursery World - A Unique Child: Practice in Pictures

New sights and new textures are made familiar for a baby with careful adult interest, says Anne O'Connor

Dexter (12 months) and his mother are at the beach. His mother points to the birds and Dexter follows her gaze and says 'bap'. This is the word that he uses for birds - and also for dogs. She understands and repeats 'bap' back to him, as well as using the word 'bird'.

They find a good place to play that is just the right height for Dexter to stand and investigate the shells and the sand. He has also found a stick and he spends a lot of time poking it into the sand, prodding shells with it and scratching it on different surfaces. He pushes things into the sand to hide them and then finds them again. Dexter has been walking for a month or so, but he finds the soft sand harder to negotiate. He happily crawls along until he finds a surface that can support his new-found walking skills.

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