What do babies ask of us with respect to their care and learning? What, how, and when do they learn, and what role do we play in this? For those working in early childhood education, family support, early intervention, and home visitation, these are critical questions that impact the care we give infants and toddlers and the advice we offer their families. This session is an invitation to take a close look at how we see babies, to sharpen our understanding of what babies know, how they feel, how they relate with others, and how they learn. It draws on a broad array of research, spanning gestation to age 3, to illustrate babies competence and their biological expectation to connect, to participate, to belong, to make meaning, and to enjoy companionship. Participants will view video documentation of Infants play and interactions and engage in reflective discussion to interpret how infants, within everyday moments of care, make visible their thoughts, ideas, and intentions. Come prepared to hone your ability to listen to babies ways of communicating, to see the learning underway in simple moments of play and interaction, and to experience mindful observation and reflective dialogue around documentation of infants play. Discover the power and the potential of such reflective dialogue to engage parents (especially those who face early life adversity), to guide infant care practice (whether in the home or in group care), and to support infant learning (to ensure a respectful approach to "infant curriculum").

Marsha Peralta is a professor of early childhood education at Folsom Lake College and previously at Pacific Oaks College. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento, an M.A. in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College, and completed the University of Massachusetts Napa Infant-Parent Mental Health Program. She is co-author of the 2019 Teachers College Press book Infant Development from Conception to Age 3: What Babies Ask of Us. Prior to teaching, she worked with vulnerable infants and their families as an educator and integrative health consultant, drawing on extensive training in somatic psychology, trauma resolution, interpersonal neurobiology, and pre- and perinatal psychology. She is deeply committed to improving lifelong health outcomes through supporting optimal physiological development from preconception through the first three years.

Mary Jane Maguire-Fong is professor emerita of early childhood education at American River College. She has served as faculty for the WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies and the Program for Infant-Toddler Care. She has been a preschool teacher, infant center director, and administrator for early childhood programs in the migrant farm worker community. She is the author of the 2015 Teachers College Press (TCP) book Teaching and Learning with Infants and Toddlers: Where Meaning Making Begins and co-author of the 2019 TCP book Infant Development from Conception to Age 3: What Babies Ask of Us. She was a contributing writer for the California Department of Education (CDE) Infant/Toddler and Preschool Curriculum Frameworks, the WestEd book Concepts for Care: 20 Essays on Infant/Toddler Development and Learning, and co-author of the CDE 2017 publication The Integrated Nature of Learning. She holds degrees in child development and psychology and has completed a fellowship in infant-parent mental health.