Language and Dancing with your 7 week old

Its interesting how 7 weeks old seems so old and yet so young. I feel like John's birth is just a story now, it doesn't feel like I actually gave birth anymore but that's probably because I feel completely healed, at least physically.
At 7 weeks old babies are continuing to work on learning the tasks from previous weeks.  And at this point I feel I should define 2 words: learn and master.
To me, to learn is to continue to work on a task or behavior.  It may not look like I can complete the task or show the behavior and that's because I am still learning. Learning takes a lot of time and I personally need love and support while I learn something new.
To me, to master a task or behavior means you can do it correctly about 95% of the time. Everyone makes mistakes with what they have learned so there's that 5% buffer.  To master a task or behavior looks like I can do it or be it!  So please don't get frustrated or give up when you feel your little one isn't learning because I guarantee they are, they just haven't mastered it yet. Remember these 2 very important definitions and teaching your child anything will become easier because you are more understanding of where they are in their learning path.
Let's see what fun activities can help these babies learn this week:

Language
Its no secret that the best years to learn language is 0-3 years old but did you know that babies can't tell the difference of languages for the first 6-12 months of their life?  According to Brain Rules for Babies babies are born being able to speak any language.  BUT their ability to distinguish differences in language stops by the time they are a year old.  What does this mean?  Have you ever seen Goonies? In the movie a Japanese kid named Data points out that there is a "booty trap".  Another kid corrects him by saying "booby trap".  He responds, "That's what I said, 'booty trap'!"  Data wasn't exposed to the 2 words "booty" and "booby" before he was 1 year old and therefore didn't hear that there was a difference.  If you have learned a language I'm sure you can think back to a word or sound that you just didn't understand, well that means you weren't exposed to it before age 1.  Interesting huh?  It gets better.  According to a study done by a guy named Kuhl (talked about in Brain Rules for Babies) the only thing that can expose babies to other languages is social interaction=real people.  Language DVDs don't work, recordings don't work, only social interaction (aka physically talking with the baby) helps the baby to learn a language.  This means while I was watching Saved by the Bell and thinking that it was okay because my baby was learning language I was WRONG. The only way babies learn language (including their native language) is through social communication (aka talking). Interesting huh?
So, go on a stroll with your baby and tell them what you see, point out things you see, hear, and feel, (and smell?). Cook something with your baby (make sure they are safe of course), tell them what you are mixing together, where the food comes from, and what the smell or texture of it is. You could be raising the next Rachel Ray or Bobby Flay, who knows?

Hand Eye Coordination/Gross Motor
Hold up a white and black object in front of your baby.  Move the objects around and see if your baby tracks the objects with their eyes.  This helps with hand eye coordination!
Sing "The Eensy Weensy Spider" (sorry if that's spelled wrong) as you do the hand motions, "Patty Cake" with their hands or feet, or "This Little Piggie" as you play with their toes.  This helps them start to learn about their hands and feet and with hand eye coordination.
You can also pedal with their legs or do the can-can, do the Y-M-C-A with their arms and hands, or just dance with them!  A dance party is a great way to get the other kiddos involved and even if you feel silly dancing in front of them DON'T! They think you are the bomb.com no matter what you do (well I guess that depends on their age... and what dance you are doing.  You might not want to "drop it like it's hot" with your youngins around).

Lullaby
Yes, yes it is.  It is "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Who doesn't love singing this song with the most absurd voices and dance moves? I'm sure you and your baby will have a blast with this one.  :)

And if you really want to sing along with words that you didn't make up (or think are made up) here are the lyrics:
"Bohemian Rhapsody"

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.

Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

Mama, just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead.
Mama, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away.

Mama, ooh,
Didn't mean to make you cry,
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.

Too late, my time has come,
Sent shivers down my spine,
Body's aching all the time.
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.

Mama, ooh (anyway the wind blows),
I don't wanna die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning,
Very, very frightening me.
(Galileo) Galileo.
(Galileo) Galileo,
Galileo Figaro
Magnifico.

I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me.
He's just a poor boy from a poor family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity.

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go. (Let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go. (Let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go. (Let me go!)
Will not let you go. (Let me go!)
Never, never let you go
Never let me go, oh.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Oh, mama mia, mama mia (Mama mia, let me go.)
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here.

(Oh, yeah, oh yeah)

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters,
Nothing really matters to me.

Anyway the wind blows.