Clearly your baby can't express emotions in the same complex way you can. Although he or she can clearly exhibit happiness or sadness, the ability to demonstrate love and show a sense of humor is just developing.

As your baby gets older, he or she may start to cry when you leave the room and get excited when you return. Your baby may also raise his or her arms to show a desire to be picked up and give you pats on the back.

And you'll probably see your baby getting your jokes – he or she will laugh at funny expressions and try to make you laugh too. Keep the laughter flowing with your silly faces!

Honing in on sounds

Your baby now realizes where sounds come from, and will turn quickly toward a new one. One of the easiest ways to engage your baby is to jingle a set of keys. Wind chimes are great attention-getters, too.

Your baby may now be able to recognize his or her own name and understand that you're speaking to him or her when you say it. You may notice that your little one turns when you call or talk about him or her with others.

If you want to engage and entertain your baby, all you need to do is talk. At this age, babies don't learn language from the television or radio, so turn them off and use real dialogue instead.

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