Wouldn't it be great if you could say to a baby, "So, tell me a little bit about yourself" --and get a reply? Unfortunately, an infant can't tell you what he's thinking or who he is, at least not in words. But if we pay attention to the way he responds to common situations, we can learn a lot about his temperament. "By age three or four months a baby's temperament shows significant stability," says William Carey, MD., author of Understanding Your Child's Temperament (Macmillan). Temperament, according to Dr. Carey, can be broken down into distinct traits, such as the child's level of activity, initial response to new people and situations, adaptability, intensity, and distractibility, among others.
For each of the following questions, choose the response that best describes your baby. Your answers will create your baby's individual personality profile.
