Month 9-He is emotional, he will cry if you cry
Call him Mr. Movement, Mr. Independent or Mr. have my way if you will, but that is your nine month old baby for you. Always on the go for the reason that he has mastered his crawling skills to almost 101 percent as he continues to make other major gains in development. You will find him standing while holding onto things like chairs, tables, bed among others. If something drops, he will go against all odds to find it.
Your baby will also beginning getting opinions about what goes on around him. For example, he may begin to choose which food to eat, what toys to play with or even what time to go to bed. If you are not careful enough to be firm with him, you will soon realize that the opinions your baby develops may soon turn into protest. It is therefore essential that you begin setting some standards and limits to what your baby can and cannot get away with. If need be, discipline him. Other development milestones to look out for during this phase include:
Physical development
■ Because he knows how to crawl, you will notice your baby moving around the room or even house with a lot of ease. He will even attempt to crawl up the stairs.
■ Your baby will be able to sit upright without any support.
■ He will start to use his fingers to grab objects, poke and probe people. He will also love to play with toys that move and turn just to engage his busy fingers.
Intellect
■ Your baby will surprise you by being able to combine syllables to utter words like ‘da-da’ or ‘ma-ma’. He will listen to your conversation and imitate where he can in order to continue developing his language skill.
■ Even if in most cases he will not obey it, just know that your baby understands the word ‘no’.
■ Your baby will be in love with the mirror because by this age he will have begun to identify himself and the mirror acts as one of the objects that facilitate this.
■ He will pay attention when familiar names are uttered.
Social and emotional growth
■ When you call his name, he will respond but he will feel so nervous if he spots a stranger or even relatives he is not familiar with.
■ « One of the games that your baby will fancy at this age is where you disappear and appear. This helps him cope well with separation anxiety because it teaches your baby that important people in his life like mummy and daddy can go away but will still come back.
■ Your baby will repeat an activity he does that receives approval. Encourage them further by clapping or patting their backs when they do something good.
■ His emotion antennas are high and you will realize that your baby may cry when he sees or hears someone cry.
Sleep
■ Sleep time may prove a little complicated and tricky for both you and baby. Do not get worried, it is only that your baby may experience some anxiety about getting separated from you for the night.
■ Your baby may develop his own sleeping habit. You will be required to encourage him on this by putting him to bed while he is still awake.
■ He will wake up less and less during the night.
Parenting tips
a)Talk and keep talking to your baby whenever you can: when bathing, feeding, dressing and playing, to encourage his speech development.
b)Allow your baby to play with toys. Only make sure that they are not sharp, breakable, or too small to fit into their mouth, nose or ears.
c)Reassure, praise and approve your baby’s deeds especially if he does a good thing. You could do this by clapping or patting his back.
d)Try and teach your baby to drink from a cup and encourage him to leave the bottle.
e)Since your baby is so mobile by now, ensure you always empty or cover buckets, tubs or any water that is around the house.
f)Keep all medication and chemicals out of reach.
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