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When you’re at work, having confidence that your little one is receiving the special loving care he or she needs to feel secure and loved means everything. Parents entrust their babies to Luminous Early Childhood Learning Centers because they know that caring individuals are giving their babies loving attention, are trained to monitor their baby’s developmental progress, and listen carefully to parent concerns.

How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about his or her development. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, most babies (75%) reach the following milestones by two and fourth months.

Social/Emotional Milestones

2 Months

4 Months
  • Calms down when spoken to or picked up 
  • Smiles on his own to get your attention 
  • Looks at your face 
  • Chuckles (not yet a full laugh) when you try to make him laugh 
  • Seems happy to see you when you walk up to her
  • Looks at you, moves, or makes sounds to get or keep your attention
  • Smiles when you talk to or smile at him
  

Language/Communication

2 Months

4 Months
  • Makes sounds other than crying 
  • Makes cooing sounds (“oooo”, “aahh”) 
  • Reacts to loud sounds
  • Makes sounds back when you talk to him 
 
  • Turns head towards the sound of your voice 

Cognitive

(learning, thinking, problem-solving)

2 Months

4 Months
  • Watches you as you move 
  • If hungry, opens mouth when he sees breast or bottle
  • Looks at a toy for several seconds 
  • Looks at her hands with interest

Movement/Physical Development

2 Months

4 Months
  • Holds head up when on tummy 
  • Holds head steady without support when you are holding him
  • Moves both arms and both legs
  • Holds a toy when you put it in her hand 
  • Opens hands briefly
  • Uses his arm to swing at toys 
 
 
  • Brings hands to mouth
  • Pushes up onto elbows/forearms when on tummy

Luminous removes the hassle of arranging for tuition vouchers and helps make childcare affordable. Vouchers can help ease your financial stress - reducing the cost to as little as $1 to $50 dollars per week per child depending on eligibility. Learn more about qualifying for HRA and ACS vouchers at our Bronx and Brooklyn centers. Payment can also be made by SEIU/1199 Child Care, check, credit card, and through the Luminous reimbursement program. Contact Luminous Early Childhood Learning Centers at enrollment.info@luminouschildcare.org or call us at 929.777.3113.

You can check the milestones your baby has reached by the end of 4 months by completing a checklist with CDC’s free Milestone Tracker mobile app, for iOS and Android devices, using the Digital Online Checklist, or by printing the checklist.

Happy little African American boy in a pumpkin patch in autumn,

Hi, parents, and happy October! I’m so happy to celebrate my favorite season of the year. It's that time of year for fall fun with little ones. Here are some autumn- and Halloween-themed suggestions to keep your little one entertained.

As always, we are keeping these as simple as can be. Let’s get started! 

Squishy Fun

First is an activity that is great for our really tiny humans. If you plan to carve pumpkins, don’t throw away the guts of the pumpkin.

Instead, toss them in a gallon zip lock bag to create a super simple and squishy sensory activity for those 12-24-month-olds.

This way they are still involved in the pumpkin carving, but in a safe way. And this allows us parents to really focus on our own pumpkins, am I right? 

Pumpkin Washing

Another idea for our little littles is a pumpkin washing station. To keep it really simple, go for smaller pumpkins. You’ll need to grab a container, fill it with warm soapy water, and make sure there you’re set up in an area that is protected from the splashing or is OK to get wet.

Our three- and four-year-olds can really get involved in the activity by washing everyone’s pumpkins before the carving begins! 

With larger pumpkins, skip placing them in water. Instead, just give your little one a couple of washcloths and some warm soapy water. This way they can wipe down all the pumpkins, and get them nice and clean for carving. But you don’t have to find a giant tote to fill with water either. 

Sensory Bin

Another easy peasy sensory activity for our littles ones is a fall-themed sensory bin.

You could use multicolored dry pasta, pinecones, smooth acorns, or even some leaves. There is basically no mess when it comes to this activity since everything is pretty large and we parents love to hear that.

Give this one a try and let me know how it goes and how long your kiddo stayed engaged in the activity. 

Hunting for Decorations

This next one, I just did with my kiddo over the past weekend, and we had such a good time. I realized, I didn’t have any Autumn or Halloween decorations for our house! As such a huge fan of this time of year, that did not sit right with me. Lack of storage space keeps me from holding onto a lot of decorations, other than those we have for Christamas. 

So, I asked my kiddo if he wanted to go to the thrift store to pick out some decorations. Surprise, surprise, his response was “NOW?” It just so happened we had a few free hours before I had to go to work. So, I said “Sure!” and we were off. 

We headed over to our local Goodwill. I really tried to let him pick out the things he thought would be cute for our little home. He found some pumpkin string lights (LOVE), tealight candle holders (one black cat, a pumpkin, and a little ghost), a wooden pumpkin door hanger, and the cutest little stuffed pumpkin with a black top hat and black and white striped arms and legs. They are absolutely perfect.

Extra tip: Bring something to donate to the thrift store. Most thrift stores offer a coupon for making a donation. So not only was everything pretty cheap in the first place, we also got 20% off! We spent a total of only $10. And we had a great time doing it. 

But, the fun didn’t stop there. We still get to go home and decorate with our super fun finds. 

There you have it, friends! Easy peasy autumn activities to incorporate when you’ve got the time.

I hope they are just as much fun for you as they were for me. Let me know how it goes!

Sophie Hamel is a freelance writer and works as a crisis responder. Her son is a 3½-year-old preschooler.



Luminous removes the hassle of arranging for tuition vouchers and helps make childcare affordable. Vouchers can help ease your financial stress. Learn more about qualifying for HRA and ACS vouchers at our Bronx and Brooklyn centers. Payment can also be made by SEIU/1199 Child Care, check, credit card, and through the Luminous reimbursement program. Contact Luminous Early Childhood Learning Center at enrollment@luminouschildcare.orgor call us at 929.228.1180.