Baby This Week: 50 Weeks

Babies typically start walking sometime between 9 and 18 months. You may be surprised at the reactions this milestone causes in you. For example, don't take it too hard if your baby refuses when you offer to hold or carry her. She's not rejecting you. Odds are, she's simply excited about practicing walking. To prevent any injuries, keep a close eye on her when she takes off, and make sure to install safety gates to block off stairs and unsafe rooms if you haven't done this yet.

If your baby isn't walking already, she's likely to take her first independent steps soon. (If not, don't worry. Some perfectly normal babies are 17 or 18 months old before they start walking.)

As always, make sure your baby has a safe environment in which to practice her new skills. Follow standard childproofing guidelines and never leave your baby unattended. And keep the camera ready!

Around now your baby's play will probably start shifting from mastering her fine motor skills (she's got that thumb-and-forefinger grasp down pat) to exercising larger muscles. Some children this age have an attention span of two to five minutes for quiet activities — though your baby's favorite games may not be all that quiet.

Your baby probably thinks it's fun to push, throw, and knock everything down. She'll give you a toy as well as take one, and she likes games where she can put things in containers and dump them out again. This works well with blocks in buckets or boxes and with pots and pans, which she can nest inside one another. She'll thrill to the loud sounds of those pots and pans banging together, too.

- BabyCenter.com