Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 96 of the Listening Time Podcast.
We're getting closer to episode 100.
I thought it would be a good idea to do another QA questions and answers type episode for this special one.
So if you have questions for me, if you want to ask me something, then you can let me know on Instagram.
I don't know exactly when or what I'll post, because I'm recording this a little bit early, a few weeks before its release.
But by the time this episode comes out, I'll have some type of post on Instagram where I say ask me your questions for episode 100, or something like that.
There should be something on my Instagram post. by that time.
So you can find that and you can ask me your question there.
You can ask me anything about language learning, about English, about me, I guess, possibly.
And I'll choose a few of those questions and answer them during that special episode.
So If you're interested in that, just make sure to go onto my Instagram account and then ask me a question.
Like I said, it will probably be a post where I tell you to ask me questions.
So there will be something there.
So just take a look at that.
So I'm excited for that.
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All right.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about babies.
So this is a topic that I have wanted to talk about for a while.
I was going to talk about child rearing.
This just means raising a child.
I wanted to talk about child rearing, but this is a very, very controversial topic.
It's maybe the most controversial topic outside of politics.
So everyone has their own ideas about how we should raise our children, and Everybody is going to have things that they disagree on.
So no two parents are exactly the same.
Right.
Everyone has their own preferences, their own beliefs, their own style.
So I've kind of shied away from that topic.
In English, when we say that you shy away from something, this means that you kind of avoid something.
You don't actually do it.
You shy away from that thing.
So I've shied away from that topic because it's a little controversial, but I wanted to talk about babies in general.
And I'll talk about a few of the different stages that babies go through, and talk about this topic that a lot of us love, a lot of us are very familiar with because we have children.
But even if you don't have children, I think this will still be interesting for you and it will show you what you can expect in the future if you do have children.
So we'll talk about that today.
And remember that you have the transcript for this episode.
So go down and click on that if you need it.
And if you like this podcast, please give it a five-star rating and review and share it with anyone else you know who's learning English.
All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time.
Okay, let's talk about babies.
Let's start with the very first phase, the newborn phase.
So a newborn just refers to a baby that was born recently.
So a young child, a very young baby.
I'm sure there will be a lot of new vocabulary for you in this episode.
So this should be very educational.
So the newborn phase is, of course, the first phase that we go through as parents, and It's the first phase that our babies go through.
So when our babies are newborns, they're very delicate.
They're defenseless, really.
They're not able to do much on their own.
They can't hold their head up or make a lot of the movements that an older baby might make.
They're very delicate.
We have to treat them with a lot of care.
And it's the phase that you just kind of try to keep the baby alive.
Just make sure that the baby is okay and make sure that you're doing everything you need to do just to maintain this little person that needs you for everything.
So it's a very delicate phase, but it's a very precious phase as well.
In English we like to use the word precious to describe something that is really cute or that makes you feel very emotional in like a parental way maybe.
So when you see a cute baby doing cute things, you might say that that baby is very precious.
And for me, the newborn phase is very precious because the baby is just so small.
Their little hands and their little feet are so tiny.
It really makes you feel small, very protective over this baby and you just want to make sure that this baby is doing well and you're making sure that they're comfortable and they have everything they need and you feel so much love and tenderness for them in this first phase and You just kind of admire them a lot and just watch them sleep and things like that.
So this phase is maybe the least dynamic when it comes to your interaction with them, but it's still a ton of work as a parent.
You have to wake up many times at night, especially when they're in their first few weeks of life, because They're just constantly peeing and pooping all the time.
Just so many times every day.
So you have to wake up at night to change their diaper.
And this, for me, was the only time when I really lacked sleep.
When I felt that I wasn't sleeping enough was during that first month, really, of my son's life.
Thankfully, after that, my son became a pretty good sleeper.
So I haven't had many problems since then.
But that first month was rough in English when we say that something is rough.
That means that it's hard or it's tough, it's difficult, etc.
So that first month was rough because we had to wake up like three or four times just for the diaper changes, not for other things.
Just counting the diapers, that was a few times every night.
And it was very hard to get enough sleep, but it's worth it, of course.
So during this newborn phase, it's a lot of just diapers and eating and sleeping.
That's really what characterizes this period.
Next, let's talk about when they get a little bit older.
So once they get a little bit older, babies can start to move a little differently.
They can hold their head up.
You don't have to sustain their head position quite as much once they get a little older.
And you can even sit them up and have them be in a seated position once they get older.
And they'll start to do things like rolling over.
In English, when we use the phrase roll over, We're talking about when a baby is on their back or on their stomach, and then they roll into the other position.
So they roll from their back to their stomach. or they roll from their stomach to their back.
We say roll over when talking about this.
So babies will start to roll over eventually and you need to be careful, because if you have them on the bed or on the couch, you have to be careful because they might roll over and fall off.
So this is a new thing for parents when their first child first starts rolling over.
They have to be more cautious because of that.
So I remember that very clearly.
And during this phase there's a lot more interaction happening with the baby and the parent.
The baby can start to smile and laugh and those types of things.
And that's really cool when you start to see your baby laughing at things and interacting more with you and with their environment.
That's really cool.
I think that they're not only interacting with you as the parent during this phase.
They're also interacting a lot with just the things around them, the world around them.
They're discovering the world, really.
They start to grab things.
In English, when we say that you grab something, we're saying that you take it in your hand, right?
So babies will start to grab things and want to put things in their mouth.
This is a big thing with babies, of course, and this is kind of how babies start playing.
They start to take things in their hands, Look at it, put it in their mouth, do all kinds of things to kind of discover the world around them.
So that's really cool.
And anything can be a toy for them at this phase.
So if you give them a spoon, that's a toy.
If you give them your sunglasses, that's a toy, right?
During this stage, everything starts to become a toy.
Everything is interesting.
They want to grab anything new that they see that you introduce to them.
They get very curious during this phase.
And so that's also really cool to see.
But you have to be careful as well. to not give them anything that could be a choking hazard.
In English, when we say that someone chokes, this means that they have something stuck in their throat and they can't breathe.
So with babies, you have to be very careful not to give them small objects that could be choking hazards.
So this just means that They can cause choking if the baby accidentally swallows it.
So you have to be very careful about that.
You don't give them small objects like that.
And they can start to play with other types of real toys too, not just random objects.
Like I remember my son's favorite thing at that age was this little gym, we called it.
It was just this mat that he would lie on.
And then there are things hanging down from above him, like a little star or animal or something like that.
He could reach up and grab these things and touch them, and this was very stimulating for him at that age.
He liked to see these things hanging down over his head and he could grab them.
We started to get him more real toys like that.
But to be honest, a lot of babies they just kind of prefer the random objects.
Those are the most interesting toys for them.
I'm sure a lot of you guys who are parents know what I'm talking about.
Next, there is the crawling phase.
So when a baby starts crawling, what this means is they start going around, moving on the ground on their hands and knees.
This is called crawling.
So once babies start crawling, everything changes because they can move.
Now they can go and do things and actually move away from you and you're not even doing anything or holding them or touching them, and they're just moving and going somewhere else, for example.
So you got to be very careful during this phase.
You need to baby proof your house, that's for sure.
In English, when we say that you baby proof some area, what we're saying is that you make that area friendly and safe for a baby.
So for example, you have to be careful with electrical outlets.
These are the things on your wall where you plug things in to get electricity, right?
To charge your phone or plug in a lamp or something like that.
So you have to be careful with those electrical outlets.
You need to cover those somehow.
And you have to be careful with sharp corners and edges and things like that that could possibly hurt the baby if they run into them.
So you got to baby proof your house during this phase.
But this phase is also a really fun phase because the baby starts playing in a different way and discovering the world even more, because now they can move well within their world.
And if they see something and they want to go and play with that thing or explore some area, then they'll just go over there and do it.
Things are very different now once they can do that.
And the interaction with your kids is also more advanced, I guess you could say, during this phase.
The baby might already start to say things like mama and dada and things like that.
Of course, those were two of my son's first words.
Five first words, I think, were mama and dada right.
He still doesn't really talk.
He only says a few words, but those were the first ones probably, that he learned to say, or they were some of the first ones that he said.
But that's really cool once your son or daughter starts to call you mama or dada.
It's really nice to have that interaction where they're actually referencing you with their words.
That's really cool.
So that's kind of like a new connection that you have with them.
You can start to say words to them and they'll understand them and they'll start to learn different things like that.
So that's really awesome.
And then there are new types of toys for this phase because now they can move around.
So, for example, my son really loves cars.
So once he started crawling, he discovered that he could push cars around the floor and he could crawl around with the car in his hand and the car would move roll, because it has wheels, and he loved doing that.
So that was something that he couldn't do before he started crawling.
That was a new type of playing that he discovered.
So there are things like that, and one thing that my son really liked at that age was this ball pit that he got as a gift, and A ball pit is like some area, some little enclosure, some closed area, where there are many plastic balls.
I'm sure you've seen this before.
Some play areas have ball pits where kids can go in there and there are like hundreds or thousands of these plastic balls and it's really fun for them.
So my son has one of these.
He doesn't use it anymore that much, but he used it more when he was just in that crawling phase.
And this was really fun for him to be with all these little balls and he would get excited with all the balls around him.
So that was one of his favorite things at that age.
And then after the crawling phase, they eventually start walking.
So this is the phase that my son is in right now.
He can walk on his own.
And for me, of all the new things that my son has learned throughout his life up to this point, I have to say that walking was the most amazing thing for me as a father to see.
More than anything else, it was so cool to see him take his first steps.
That was unbelievable for me.
You feel such a sense of accomplishment, almost like, wow, we've reached this phase.
My son is able to walk.
It feels really amazing.
It's so cool to see them do that.
I really loved this.
And this is the phase where kids start to become a little more independent and, Of course, they're still babies and they're really dependent on you.
However, they start to explore a little bit and they don't need you as much when they're going around and playing and exploring.
Of course they can do this a little bit when they crawl, but they're still a little limited when they're crawling right.
They can't walk and access the same places yet.
But once they start walking, they're off on their own and they're able to go wherever they want and explore the places that look interesting for them.
And you have to be careful, of course, because at this point they can walk into the street when you're not looking, they can go into some other room and you don't know what they're doing.
And You have to just be careful and know that these kids can, of course, get into a lot of trouble now that they can walk on their own.
So, of course, every new phase brings a new set of challenges for parents, things that you need to be careful with.
But this independence is also really cool.
It's cool to see your kid walk, kind of walk off on their own and bend down and pick things up and then stand back up again and continue walking.
I know if you're not a parent, this might not sound that interesting, but trust me, once you have your first kid and you see this happen for the first time, It's an unforgettable experience.
I'm sure that you'll feel the same way once you have your first kid.
And, of course, during this phase, children start to talk a little more, say more words and eventually phrases, and they start to understand more.
My son isn't talking yet.
He can say some words, but he doesn't really say them really clearly.
But he can understand a lot already.
If I tell him to go throw something away in the trash can in another room, he'll do it.
He'll take that thing, he'll go into the other room, throw it in the trash and come back.
It's really cool to see him start to understand more.
And so that happens during this phase of And this is the last phase before they become a toddler.
Remember that in English we use the word toddler to describe usually like a two or three year old kid, when they're not a baby anymore, but they're still young, very young, so that's the toddler phase.
So this is the last phase before they become a toddler, and then they're much more dynamic at that point and they're much more communicative and so at that point they're not really a baby anymore right Okay well, why don't we stop there for today?
I hope this episode was interesting for you, and I hope it was good practice for your listening.
Remember that if you need more advanced training, then make sure to sign up to become a Listening Time family member or VIP and you'll receive two new advanced episodes every month in which I speak at normal speed.
And so the link for that is in the episode description below this episode.
And of course, you have the transcript available.
So click on that if you need it and listen as many times as you need until you can eventually understand everything that I'm saying without using the transcript.
And if you like this podcast, please give it a five-star rating and a review and share it with anyone else you know who's learning English.
All right.
Well, thank you for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
