I'd love to get some advice for this, my 8.5 month old is at a similar stage. He's funny with his movement, he can roll from back to tummy, but always in one direction and never rolls from tummy to back (he's done it a couple of times so I know he can though, he just doesn't). He can't crawl, but can go from lying on his tummy to sitting up and will go up onto his hands and feet from his tummy and jump up and down with his hands still on the ground. He can pull himself up onto some things but he has to be the right distance away and they have to be the right height, and he can lower himself back to sitting when he's standing.
His main issue is he loves balls and blocks, but he tends to knock them out of his reach and then has a tantrum because he can't get to it.
I'm desperate for him to start crawling so the whining and tanties can stop! At the moment, I hold his feet and press them down onto the floor to try and give him the idea to push with his feet which he can do against a vertical surface but not against the floor. Usually he tries that, then ends up face planted on the floor crying, so I pick him up, give him a cuddle and when he calms down, I put him back in the same place or slightly closer, but so he still has to work to get to the toy. Then we repeat the process.
Any ideas for how to help him? Please???