# Day 221: Out of sight

> By about 8 months, many babies lift a cloth to find a hidden toy, and looking for dropped things is on the 9-month list. The towel game, and why the spoon keeps going over the side.

- Series: Your eighth month, day by day (https://chorevia.com/learn/eighth-month), day 221 of 365, week 30
- Canonical URL: https://chorevia.com/learn/eighth-month/day-221
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-21
- Publisher: Chorevia (https://chorevia.com)
- Cite as: Chorevia. "Day 221: Out of sight." Last reviewed October 21, 2026. https://chorevia.com/learn/eighth-month/day-221

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

The spoon goes over the side of the tray, and your baby leans to look where it went. That lean is new. A month ago, gone was gone.

## Heart

By about 8 months, a baby will lift a scarf to find a hidden toy, and by 10 months they'll keep searching, because they now know objects exist out of sight ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)). By 9 months, most babies look for objects dropped out of sight and bang two things together ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/9-months.html)). Your baby is thirty weeks, so this is the window where many babies start the looking, not a deadline. The lean over the tray edge is the first draft.

## Head

How well a baby holds "where it went" in mind was measured in a classic lab study. Babies 7.5 to 9 months old, shown a toy hidden in one of two spots, searched in the old hiding spot after delays of just 2 to 5 seconds when the toy had moved, while 12-month-olds made the same mistake only after delays of more than 10 seconds ([Diamond & Goldman-Rakic, 1989](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2924839/)). A baby who pulls the towel off the wrong lump isn't confused; their memory for the place is a few seconds long and growing. Dropping and banging are experiments in how things work ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)), and so is watching you fetch the spoon.

## Body

The looking comes with a mouth. Everything still goes in it, so check the floor often ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)), and check between cushions too, for coins, toy parts, and pen caps ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx)). Any hiding game uses objects too big to fit entirely in your baby's mouth ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx)) and a cloth, never a plastic bag. A dish towel and a wooden rattle are the whole kit.

## Try today

### Where did it go?

- **Time:** 2 to 5 minutes
- **From the guide:** [Where did it go?](https://chorevia.com/learn/7-12-months#where-did-it-go)

1. Sit your baby on the floor, your hands near their hips if they still wobble, and show them a favorite toy; then cover it with a dish towel while they watch.
2. Wait. Cheer when they pull the towel off. If they only stare, lift a corner so the toy peeks out, and try again ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)).
3. Once that's easy, lay out two towels: hide the toy under the first a few times, then switch to the second while they watch.
4. If they search the old spot, show them where it went and try again; at this age the old spot wins after a few seconds' delay ([Diamond & Goldman-Rakic, 1989](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2924839/)).

**Make it work:** Stop when the towel becomes the toy. Chewing the towel is a fine ending.

## Watch for

- **Normal:** the spoon over the side for the tenth time, with a look over the edge each time; dropping is one of the ways babies learn how things work ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)). **Talk with your pediatrician** if by 9 months your baby doesn't sit without support, look when you call their name, or babble lots of different sounds; ask about developmental screening rather than waiting ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/9-months.html); [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/families/concerned.html)).
- **Normal:** a toy found under the towel and straight into the mouth. **Call 911** if your baby is choking and can't breathe, cry, or make noise, turns bluish, or goes limp, and start [back blows and chest thrusts](https://chorevia.com/learn/6-months#gagging-is-normal-choking-is-silent) while someone calls ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx)).
- **Normal:** a sideways topple from sitting onto the rug, with a surprised face and no tears. **Call your pediatrician** for any head injury in a baby under 1, even a bump that seems like nothing ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/symptom-checker/Pages/symptomviewer.aspx?symptom=Head+Injury)).

## For you

The game that never gets old for one of you. The twentieth pickup of the spoon is dull for you and new for your baby every single time, because what they're testing isn't the spoon; it's whether the world works the way it did a second ago ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx)). You don't have to be the one who finds it endlessly interesting. Pick it up three times, narrate the third ("spoon, down, back"), and then the spoon stays down and the meal carries on. You're allowed to stop teaching today's lesson.

If you're the partner: tonight's floor-level sweep is yours. Get down to your baby's height and look under the sofa and between the cushions for coins, toy parts, and pen caps ([AAP](https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx)). Everything the towel game teaches them to find, they'll also find on their own.

## Sources

- American Academy of Pediatrics. "Cognitive Development in Infants: 8 to 12 Months." HealthyChildren.org, updated 2023. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Cognitive-Development-8-to-12-Months.aspx
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Milestones by 9 Months." Learn the Signs. Act Early. program, updated 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/9-months.html
- Diamond A, Goldman-Rakic PS. "Comparison of human infants and rhesus monkeys on Piaget's AB task: evidence for dependence on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex." *Experimental Brain Research*, 1989. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2924839/
- Bradin S. "Choking Prevention for Babies & Children: What Every Parent Needs to Know." HealthyChildren.org, updated 2026. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Concerned About Your Child's Development?" Updated 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/families/concerned.html
- American Academy of Pediatrics. "Head Injury" (symptom checker). HealthyChildren.org, accessed 2026. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/symptom-checker/Pages/symptomviewer.aspx?symptom=Head+Injury