8-12 month development

[Mamma2004]

DS was born two months prematurely so while he is now 8 months old, developmentally he is closer to 6. He rolls well and has been sitting independently for two weeks. He "scooches" well in his crib and LOVES to stand, whether in my lap, the Supersaucer or the Jumperoo. He has just begun to mimic me while playing "pat-a-cake", too.

I am delighted with his progress and want to savor every stage without rushing his development. We're in no hurry! I realize, however, that it is my responsibility to foster his growth so I wonder if you might have some suggestions.

Are there certain toys that we should get for his first birthday? The grandparents are asking and we have no idea!

How can we encourage his crawling? He used to love tummy time but now that he rolls constantly, he spends so little time on his tummy!

TIA to all of you.

[tbanan]

My husband and I also had our son 2 months early and he is 8 1/2 months old (6 1/2 months corrected age). We would also love to know how to encourage him to crawl. He is fascinated with rolling right now and we want to make sure the next step to crawling is gradual, but we are curious if there are steps to take to help encourage him.

Thanks!

[manatee]

My dd was born 1 month premature and is now 8 months (7 months corrected). She is not really close to crawling either but the pedi said not to worry. She is close to your DS developmentally so I think your DS is actually very developed for his corrected age.

The only suggestion I have is that there are these toys (saw them at BRU) that roll and move which encourages the babies to chase after them. My friend swears that's what got her dd to crawl. HTH.

[Mazz]

Our DD started with the "army crawl" at around 6 months. We have the Vtech Move & Crawl Ball and while that encouraged her ... she would really crawl if you set the TV remote in front of her! For whatever reason she loves the remote control and would do anything to get to it.

Sounds like he is developing well. Sitting up is a big accomplish. Our DD is just now (at almost 9 months) sitting up really well.