At nine months
Your baby sits alone and pivots into a crawling position. He crawls on extended limbs and holds on to furniture to pull himself up to stand. He bangs blocks together, claps hands, and points and pokes at objects. Small objects intrigue him, and he picks them up with a few fingers and his thumb.
He begins babbling, uses repetitive sounds – “dadadada”, and imitates your sounds. He knows his own name and responds to “no” but forgets quickly. He starts to shout, and should respond well to a hearing test.
- Encourage free play on the floor near furniture against which he can pull himself up.
- Let your baby hold onto your fingers to walk.
- Imitate his sounds and have conversations with him.
- Introduce interesting toys that move, make sounds and change shape to reward his play. He enjoys bath time and plays happily with cups in the water.
- Start calling objects by their proper names. Tell him short stories and show him books with simple pictures.
- Play hide-and-seek.
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