The Rouge Test

Here's something kind of fun you can do with your kiddo...a little experiment that doesn't involve wearing a hat to measure brain waves! In developmental psychology its been called "The Rouge Test".

Step 1. Put some bright red lipstick on the end of your baby's nose. Blush, pudding...anything that's safe for baby skin and colorful will work.
Step 2. Distract your baby so that she forgets that you did anything.
Step 3. Put your baby safely in front of a mirror so that he can see himself.
Step 4. Watch to see what your baby does. Does she try to interact with the other baby? Ignore the mirror? Try to touch his own nose?

If your baby is around 15 months or over, watch to see if he touches his nose or gives some other clear indication that he realizes the lipstick is there. Its about this time that toddlers develop self-recognition. They begin to understand not only that they are their own person (which starts to happen around 6 months) but that their self has specific characteristics...like a name and a certain look. Touching the lipstick on the end of their noses is a sign that says "Hey, that's me, and that's not supposed to be there!"

Before this time, they'll see a baby and might be interested, but won't have a sense of who that baby actually is. If your baby doesn't seem to exhibit self-recognition yet, just try it again in another month or so...they'll probably get it by 18 months.

Self-recognition is an important step in development...but be prepared. Once they realize they have a "self", the next step is trying to figure out how much control they have over their environments, and this is the stage parents often refer to as the Terrible Twos. When you hit it, take heart. Your sweet baby isn't trying to be "terrible", they're being smart. They're trying to figure out how the world works and exactly how it works for them.