1. Toys with sharp points. 2. Small enough to swallow, or to push into the nose. 3. Covered with hair or wool. 4. Glass that is easily broken. 5 Painted toys. 6. Toys that may be taken apart and the small parts swallowed. 7. Paper books that may be chewed or torn. Bear in mind that babies are easily amused with such simple toys as: 1. A half-dozen clothes pins. 2. An aluminum pan and a spoon. 3. Rubber toys (easily washed). 4. Celluloid dolls, ducks, and other floating toys. 5. Blocks. 6. A large rubber ball. The older children have wonderfully good times out of doors with a spade, a cart, and the sandpile. Boys most thoroughly enjoy a track with its engine and cars, switches, etc. They build sham fortifications, truly works of art, with their blocks, while the girls are happiest with dolls and household sets. However, occasionally we meet a mother who has a girl who is really a boy in her tastes for toys, and so we say to that mother: give the little girl the desire of her heart; if it's a train instead of a doll, or a toy gun instead of a doll's trunk, well and good, let her have them. What we want are free and easy, natural, children. They are much more likely to have good nerves, clean thoughts, sound digestion, and equalized circulation. CHAPTER XXIV GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT The newborn baby comes into the world in an absolutely helpless condition and completely unconscious of his surroundings. He unconsciously performs certain acts, such as opening his eyes, crying, urination, movement of the bowels, and even nursing of the breast; but there is probably no distinct voluntary action connected with any of these acts. All of his senses at birth are practically dormant, but as the days and weeks go by, they begin to awaken. SPECIAL SENSES The baby cries, but the tears do not actually flow over the lids until he is three or four months old, and while the baby may fix his eyes upon objects and distinguish light from darkness, he will not wink nor blink when the finger is brought close to the eye. Vision is probably not complete until the beginning of the third month. Infants are said to be deaf for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after birth, and some authorities hold that they are deaf for several days. Taste is early developed, as a newborn baby will often repeatedly show a desire to taste sweet things, while if sour or bitter things are put to the tongue, it shows its displeasure. HAIR AND SCALP The newborn baby usually comes into the world with a good head of hair, but the end of the first or second week witnesses the falling out of much of this hair, and falling may continue for even another week or two. The hair is often worn off on the back of the head because of constant friction upon the pillow.