Read an excerpt here.

Baby Be Loved by Susan Ann Stelfox is a spiral bound, unique book that at first glance looks like a wall-hung calendar. But it's not . . . at least not in the usual sense of the word. It's a casual, but well-thought out weekly guide for "Growing and learning together during the first 24 weeks" of your new baby's life -- those all-important six months when new parents must begin the process of developing life-long relationships with their new babies while aiding their emotional, cognitive, physical, and social development..

Baby Be Loved is not a definitive schedule or measure of your child's development from birth, as each child develops in their own way and time. But it is a quick week-by-week doctor-approved reference and daily guide of simple, age-appropriate ideas and activities:

• Loving parenting "tips"
Bonding ideas
• Parent-child creative play suggestions
• Baby and Mom exercises
• Lullabies, songs and rhymes
• Finger plays
• Activities to help your baby comprehend cause and effect
• And fun images and colors to stimulate baby's developing vision!

Baby Be Loved is uniquely designed to aid in language development, physical developmental skills and motor coordination. You'll find easy-to-follow activities and quick daily notes to absorb and utilize throughout each day. Baby Be Loved offers new parents enjoyable ways to help their babies learn and explore the world through sight, sound, touch, smell and movement. You'll find it compactly offers valuable tips, developmental milestones, and inspiration for the new parent.

Baby Be Loved is one of the most valuable parenting tools you'll find as a busy new parent. It gives you a 5-minute-a-day read to provide one positive thought or idea to nurture and inspire, making this fleeting period in your baby's development as special as it can be and helping to build a deep, lasting parent-child bond . . . in essence, telling your new little one, Baby Be Loved.

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Visual Stimulation

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Baby Be Loved provides a wide range of interesting graphics to entertain your baby and stimulate visual development! It starts with simple, black and white patterns to provide the maximum contrast during the early weeks. Bold, primary colors and more complex patterns are introduced as your baby's vision develops.

Week 10

Week 18

Week 20

Interesting facts on early visual development:

• Babies can see from the moment of birth.
• Newborns see most clearly between eight and twelve inches directly in front of them.
• Babies are able to distinguish a human face from all other shapes and patterns.
• Enjoy high-contrasting patterns such as checkerboards, stripes and bulls-eyes.
• Prefer bold, vibrant colors.

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Lullabies, Songs and Nursery Rhyme

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Can't remember the words to your favorite children’s songs? Baby Be Loved contains a variety of traditional songs and lullabies! And the songs are scored in music notation for the instrumental player.

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes go beyond playful games. Nursery rhymes and poems with an up-and-down rhythm and tone emphasize the musical characteristics of language. Rhymes with gestures help to link actions with the action words. It is said they improve a child's memory and anticipation skills. As your child grows older, nursery rhymes will help with the beginning phases of reading. Build a repertoire of songs and rhymes and sing, say, or play them frequently.

Fingerplays

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker man! Bake me a cake as fast as you can. Pat it, And prick it, And mark it with a "B". Put it in the oven For Baby and me!

(clap you or your baby's hands) (stir imaginary bowl) (pretend to knead it) (as with a fork) (draw a "B" or baby's initial) (pretend to do so) (point to each of you. Hug and kiss!)