By 12 months your baby鈥檚 brain has doubled in size, and they鈥檝e learnt all sorts of exciting skills.
While every baby is different, here鈥檚 a few unexpected things they might be able to do by their first birthday鈥
1. They know how to make you laugh
It might be a while before they start telling you 鈥渒nock, knock鈥 jokes. But by the age of one, your baby is already a little comedian.
According to University of Portsmouth researchers, babies aged seven or eight months old deliberately use their body, face, or voice to make adults laugh.
Want to make your little one giggle? By 12 months, your baby loves silly faces or simple rules being broken - pretend to put their socks on and see how they react!
2. They can tell the difference between languages
Your baby might not have said their first word yet, but they are already an ace at languages! Child language researcher Dr Michelle Peter says, 鈥淔rom birth, babies have the ability to recognise the sounds from all the languages of the world.
鈥淎round six months there is a process called 鈥榩erceptual narrowing鈥 which is like a pruning of their knowledge of sounds, so it becomes more specific to the language they are learning.鈥
English, for example, has 44 sounds while Spanish has just 20. All of which means from very early on your baby can tell the difference between languages. Genius!
3. They are experts at hide and seek
Your baby has begun to develop a sense of object permanence. This means that they are starting to learn that even if you鈥檙e out of sight, you鈥檙e still there.
Dr Peter says, 鈥淥ver time babies start to understand when someone or something disappears it can come back again.鈥
Why not play a game of hide and seek with their toys? Hide a teddy somewhere in the room and then go looking for it together鈥 or your active one-year-old can crawl or cruise to find it on their own!
4. They can do maths
Your baby isn鈥檛 quite ready for their times tables. But one study at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found babies as young as six months spotted basic maths mistakes in a puppet show.
And that鈥檚 not all. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) in Leipzig and the University of Uppsala, Sweden, say (in other words, guess which events are more likely to happen).
Their experiment saw a machine filled with mostly blue balls along with a few yellow ones. These balls were shot into containers, one of which ended up filled with mainly yellow balls - something that statistically was unlikely to happen. The babies eyes were drawn to this container and scientists think it鈥檚 because they were surprised by the result.
5. They can tell you what they want
Whether it鈥檚 their favourite toy or a yummy snack, your baby knows what they want鈥 and how to make sure they get it!
While your little one might not have the words yet, they have learnt to use body language and gestures - pointing at the teddy they want or handing you the book ready for you to read - to communicate with you.
鈥淭his is called joint attention and happens when a baby understands you are both sharing the goal of engaging with a particular object鈥, says Dr Peter. 鈥淭hey might want you to do something for them or they find something interesting and want to share it with you.鈥
By saying the word for what they are pointing at, you are helping them develop their language and vocabulary.
6. They can follow simple instructions
Your baby doesn鈥檛 have their long-term memory - the ability to remember things in the past - until they are around 18 months old.
But by the age of one, they can remember short term things. And this means if you ask your baby to pass you a toy, they will remember the simple instruction and do it.
7. They can get VERY active
Rolling over, standing up, crawling鈥 your baby is very definitely on the move by 12 months.
That鈥檚 because during their first year, their brain has grown the fastest it will ever grow. And lots of this growth is in the region called the cerebellum which is in charge of physical development.
8. They can boogie to their favourite songs
Researchers at the Institute for Psychology in Budapest and the University of Amsterdam say babies are born with a sense of rhythm鈥 and can even predict the next beat in a song.
All of which means they鈥檒l love moving along to the songs you play.
Dr Peter adds, 鈥淩epetition is really important and if you have played the same song or nursery rhyme, it鈥檚 likely your baby will recognise it. They鈥檒l also anticipate the actions and may even be able to do simple actions like clapping.鈥
9. They can understand way more than you might think
For the past few months, you鈥檝e probably noticed your baby is starting to recognise words that they鈥檙e hearing a lot鈥ncluding their name.
The part of their brain called the auditory cortex processes the sounds they鈥檙e hearing, and they then get stored in your baby鈥檚 long-term memory.
Dr Peter says, 鈥淏abies tend to produce words from around their first birthday, although many are earlier or later. Before they say anything, they understand basic words, phrases and concepts and are picking up a lot more than you might imagine.鈥
10. They can outgrow their clothes overnight
Your baby has done a LOT of growing over the past 12 months and has tripled their birth weight.
But what might surprise you is how much they can grow in one night. Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta found babies can grow almost a centimetre in length in 24 hours.
Which totally explains why that babygrow doesn鈥檛 fit anymore鈥
11. They know what they like (and what they don鈥檛!)
When you鈥檙e weaning your baby, you鈥檒l realise pretty quickly that they have strong opinions on what they are happy to eat鈥 and what doesn鈥檛 pass the taste test.
Showing you their likes and dislikes is an important stage in your little one鈥檚 development. And it won鈥檛 be long before they鈥檙e revealing even more of their personality!
12. They are brilliant copycats
This copycat behaviour is a key way your little one is learning about the world around them. So don鈥檛 be surprised if your little one wants to try brushing their hair just like you or tries to copy the sounds you鈥檙e making.
Dr Peter says, 鈥淚mitating happens very early on. As they begin to babble and coo, acknowledge what they are saying then pause and let them babble back. That will prepare them for the back and forth of conversation.鈥
