She can crawl, climb, walk and sit with varying ability and uses the furniture and objects around your house to help hers stay balanced on her little feet. Her language appreciation is still action oriented so games that involve pointing to objects and repeating names are great for her.
She shows you a range of moods, including lots of love and affection, and she knows that hugs and kisses are very special gifts she can give you. She recognizes that moods are represented by certain facial expressions, and correspondingly she has growing body awareness.
Motor Skills : Month 9
Gross Motor Skills
Your child is learning new motor skills. You will see him crawl, climb, cruise and walk, as well as sit unaided and have a greater sense of balance. He climbs up and down from chairs and can now sit down after standing. He can crawl with speed and may be able to climb up a few stairs and climb down by going feet first. He helps you to dress and undress him.
Fine Motor Skills
He carries two small objects in a single hand and enjoys taking objects apart and putting them back together and placing objects inside one another. He explores new objects by banging, rattling, rubbing and turning them, and will look at them from different angles.
He reaches behind himself for objects he cannot see, and can easily retrieve objects. He lets go of objects deliberately and looks to see where they land. He handles objects with increasing precision, like placing rings on to a hole, and pushing simple shapes through a shape sorter.
Language : Month 9
He is learning to associate words with actions like waving when someone says “bye bye” and nodding when someone says “yes”. He may repeat the same word in answer to every question, and keep saying it continuously. He will chatter away as if speaking but the words still won’t have meaning to you. He uses a variety of consonants and vowel sounds and may learn several new words this month. He listens more to familiar language and understands and follows certain words and commands. He still primarily uses actions to communicate with you, so when you have understood what he wants, repeat it to him, for example you can ask him “play with the ball?” and point to the object.
Emotion : Month 9
Your baby will show his moods and will make facial expressions appropriate to how he is feeling, such as looking hurt, angry, happy, and excited. He shows affection by pressing close to you and holding you tight. As his awareness of himself grows he begins to recognize differences between girls and boys. He is also becoming aware of what is socially acceptable and unacceptable through the praise and reprimands that he receives, and he adjusts his behavior accordingly.
He is sensitive to the responses received by other children and may express jealously or annoyance if he is ignored. He may get scared performing familiar activities because he is becoming increasing aware of failure and also of hurting himself. He shows tenderness towards his favorite toys by hugging or kissing them and may separate them from other toys and also become possessive, getting angry if you take it from him without asking.
What Your Baby Enjoys : Month 9
Movement
He enjoys objects that move, like toys with wheels and those that can be pushed or pulled. He likes pushing and pulling objects and sorting them according to shape or size.
Give him bath toys that he can move through the water, fill up and empty.
Offer him building blocks that he can stack vertically or place horizontally and then dissemble. Use colorful blocks to help him to recognize and name different colors.
How Can You Help : Month 9
- Place your baby at one end of the room and get him to crawl towards you.
- Create a tunnel that he can crawl through by seeing you at the other end.
- Give him old newspapers and tissue paper that he can tear up.
- Roll a ball to him and get him to roll it back to you.
- Give him a small box that he can climb in and out of.
- Help him use simple puzzles where he can fit the pieces together
- Play interactive games like “ring a ring a roses” and “row, row, row your boat”.
- Place a toy behind him and encourage him to twist around and reach for the toy.
- Support him so he can walk with your help.
- Show him family photos and name each person.
- Read to him and point out the pictures.
- Give him toys that he can dress and undress.
- Ask him to share his toys and food with you, and reward him when he does so.
- Continue to name everything that he encounters and repeat the words often.
