Early Development of an Infant

One sunny morning while doing my nails on the couch, I, together with my sister-in-law, witnessed another milestone of my nephew Miko, 6 months. He was on his knees while watching me and then he started to reach something I was using. He slowly pushed his way up, but failed a few times. So he tried again, one foot after the other while gaining balance with his hands on the couch. The next thing we knew, voila! He was firmly standing without any external support from anyone.

The night before, a friend taking up a nursing course interviewed me in behalf of my nephew. She asked about his skills at six months and I answered back what we have observed. One of which was if he could already stand without support from anyone and I said he wasn’t able to do it yet. The next day however, he did it. I wonder if he was just that strong-willed or just physically healthy.

Experts say that by the end of the 6-9 months stage, the infant can PROBABLY be able to pull himself up to a standing position. However, this brand new vantage point often provides the infant with the motivation that he needs to start to try to be more mobile and get to the new places that he can see while standing.

Well, he hasn’t reached 7 months yet so we do believe that he has developed the skill earlier than expected. He is able to respond to peek-a-boos, eat finger foods, sit without any kind of support, pronounce vowel-consonant syllables and able to hold toys and transfer them to another place. I believe he has also developed inclination to reach what he sees above him. The ‘wanting’ to achieve such goal is an addition to his mental development.

Each baby develops at his own pace. So maybe that’s just it. He’s still amazingly wonderful.