Mom noticed that every time she opened the car door, her daughter would wave and say hi.
She started filming it and put together this adorable compilation video.
Most babies start waving around 9 months, but there is some variation as some kids will start earlier, and some later,” Dr. Scott Krugman, vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Herman & Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore tells Romper. “The key brain development milestones include vision and motor skills along with the understanding of what an adult is doing (imitation).
I guess that’s what us moms get for frantically trying for months and months to get our babies to wave back to us when we wave at them — confusion about who and what will wave to them. I remember waving my hands in my son’s face and picking up his tiny little fists to wave them around in response to try to “teach” him how to wave. I was incredibly thrilled when he started to wave back, but when he started waving to the corner of the room where absolutely nobody was, I was more than a bit creeped out.
Is it okay to wave and smile at babies or toddlers?
Definitely, and it’s good for their social development. Babies and toddlerS learn socially appropriate behavior by observing others. If you smile and wave, or engage in some silliness like peek-a-boo or making silly faces, the child is learning to be friendly. Please never touch the child though, or ask to hold them, unless the parents have stopped to engage in conversation with you. Then you might shake the parents hands, and turn and shake the toddler’s hand or offer a fist bump or high five- only if your hands are clean though, since toddlers still put their hands in their mouths.