Your child experiences a huge amount of growth and development from birth to preschool. She develops from an infant with minimal physical movement and social interaction into an active five-year-old who is capable of an amazing array of skills such as running and carrying on a conversation. Although each child's development is unique, there are predictable patterns of development that can be observed in a child's first five years.
Types of Changes
Although physical growth is the most noticeable area of development, your child is changing in many other areas. These include growth in the areas of cognitive, social and language skills. These changes are measured by developmental milestones, a list of basic achievements most children can perform at set ages.
Cognitive and Language Development
An infant's communication consists of basic methods such as crying, cooing or smiling. This develops into the ability to link a couple of words together by age two, and to speak fairly clearly by age four, according to the Mayo Clinic. By age five your child's language skills involve creating complex sentences and understanding the principle of rhyming.
An infant's ability to recognize parents is an example of early cognitive skills. A child's ability to play make-believe begins at age two and develops into a full fledged ability to create his own stories from imagination by age five. Concepts such as space and time are indistinct to an infant and toddler, but become concrete in a child's mind by age five.
Physical Development
The American Academy of Pediatricians states that, as an infant, your child is able to perform basic movements such as lifting her head, opening and closing her fist and kicking. By age two she can walk and sometimes run, and is able to perform fine motor skills such as building a small tower of blocks. By age three these fine motor skills have developed enough for your child to perform tasks like turning pages one by one, and by age four your child can dress herself. Your infant's ability to kick and squirm gradually develops into the ability to walk, run, climb, throw balls and to somersault by age five.
Social Development
The Academy notes that infants can imitate adults, and are very expressive through physical movement and facial expressions. Your infant learns to trust you, and begins to understand names of people and objects by one year of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By age two, your toddler is establishing his identity and may express defiance. Your child becomes interested in playing with other children, and expresses interest in imitation. Basic principles of ownership ("mine" and "yours") are developed.
Considerations
Protecting your child's safety is a priority. Safety issues change for your child as she grows, and the CDC emphasizes the need to child-proof your home and be alert to issues such as choking or drowning hazards.
