Parenting Tools, Your Toddler and You: What to Expect

Each new day with your toddler will be filled with some of the most exciting times of your life and your toddler's life. Some days may bring frustration as yo try to figure out what exactly your baby wants but a little patience and observation will quickly cause those feelings to dissipate. These will be days of discovery and learning for your toddler and for you.

You may wonder: Is my child able to do things that others at the same age can do? This question is often asked and not surprisingly so as it normal to want to know the answer. We want to know if our child is progressing as is expected of a toddler. One thing I know as mom and grandparent is that your child will develop as is appropriate for your child unless there is a physiological reason for that not to occur.

The chart that is provided is for a brief time period of the toddler years. As you can see, the changes occur gradually but steadily. The few skills listed are just that, a few of the many that children attempt and master. One way to increase a child's likelihood of acquiring new skills is to provide many opportunities for experiencing . These charts, no matter whose you use, are only guesstimates of what a child will be able to do at given times.

What to expect from your toddler will vary from famly to family. It is just nice to have some idea of what may be happening.

• playing with and in empty boxes
• stacking blocks and knocking them down
• placing magnets on the refrigerator or other magnetized areas, knocking them off, and doing it again
• throwing balls, trying to bounce balls
• dancing to music on a video
• imitating what you are doing
• helping with picking up toys
• sharing food with others
• learning to interact with family pets
• learning to listen and follow directions

Toddlers all learn to do the things cited in the chart as well as many other things when ready. If you notice a marked delay in development discuss it with your pediatrician. Children do not know that many people have written about their growth and development and have decided that certain behaviors are expected of them at certain times.

You can help your child develop by providing an environment that increases opportunities for learning and developing.

• Read to your child often. Encourage exploring books on their own.
• Provide the alphabet and numbers for exploration: you can purchase interconnecting foam letters and numbers for your baby to use.
• Have your child count coins, blocks, toy cars, any objects.
• Have them tell you how many objects are on the table.
• Provide opportunities for children to sort by color (size and shape can come later). You can use cereal for this sorting activity.

It is not unusual to find this toddler curled up in his chair, laying on a rug, or in his toy box, reading a book. He will spend long periods of time looking at the same book over and over. He may put that one aside and begin a new one or bring it to us so he can point out what he finds interesting. Listening to a story is a favorite way for him to spend time too.

Reading often to your sweet baby boy or girl will help those mind movies begin to form. That is beginning a lifelong love of written words.

Provide a print rich environment for your child. Have many books avalable and show an interest in them.

Many books can be bought for nominal fees at yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. Do not let money be a reason you do not have books.

From the time my grandson son could crawl around, there has been a special cabinet filled with plastic dishes and utensils for him to explore.

He likes to pull them out, flip them and do it all again. Now that he is an older toddler, he likes to mix up imaginary foods and serve them to us.

Your child's world is of course not limited to inside play and discovery.

Out of the doors are many opporuntiies to learn and experience.

Their senses will be filled with the many textures, colors, and sounds that await outside.

sounds

• sounds of birds and animals
• sounds of passing trains, cars, trucks
• sounds of neighborhoood childnen

textures

• feeling sand and soil
• feeling grass, flowers, bushes
• feeling of cement walks and play areas

sights

• colors of plants, butterflies, cats, dogs
• color of the sky

odors

• smelling flowers and plants
• smelling foods cooking on a grill

This is a time when children are discovering their modalities of learning (many have multiple intelligences as discovered by Howard Gardener http://howardgardner.com/multiple-intelligences/).

Exposing your child to outside play is not only a world of exploration time for your child but also is a time for running, chasing, and playing.

Playing in water is a favorite way to spend some part of any day.

• Holding his tiny fingers up in the water as it comes out of the faucet makes a smile appear on this face that comes from way deep down inside of him.
• Leaning over to take a sip of that cool elixir as it flows from the faucet will bring an explosion of laughter forth.
• Dipping his plastic watering can or plastic tub in and out of a bucket of water always makes him bubble over with giggles.
• Holding his tiny arms down in the water and splashing is more fun than one can imagine. He will then pull it out suddenly and say ‘Cold’. He will come to me and pull me over to the water and immerse my hand into the water so I can feel that it is ‘cold’ too.

Learning and fun happening simultaneously.

• Every child will reach milestones such as being bottle free or potty training at different times. Do not panic if your child is not doing what any chart of expected behaviors indicates is appropriate.
• The time you spend with your toddler will make a huge difference in how quickly learning takes place.
• Providing opportunities which offer a wide variety of experiences will create a new avenue of learning for your child.
• Take time to play and be a part of your toddler's world.
• • It is a time that passes so quickly and so many changes occur almost daily.
  • You will not want to miss one minute of it.

Potty training will vary from child to child. How they learn to use the potty will also depend on individual children. Training my daughter was easy. I purchased a little duck potty that she could sit on and hold the handles on the front of its head. She took to it right away and soon after she transitioned to the adult-size toilet.

My grandson was a breeze. We bought pull-ups for him. We put on his first pair and after that he never wore a diaper again and he never wet in those.

My new baby grandson has been interested in using the big potty for quite some time. He uses it but still has not gotten totally diaper free. My daughter changes him very often and now when he needs a new diaper he will bring her one along with wipes. He soon will be using the family toilet.

The toilet seat they have has a special section that accommodates the tiny bottom. I bought him a child's potty but he said not thank you very much.

Notice I did not say an age. The reason is there is no magic age. You should begin to introduce using the potty to your child as soon as you feel he or she is ready. Talk about the fact that it is time now to use the bathroom in the toilet instead of in a diaper. And soon the child will make the transition.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_milestone-chart-19-to-24-months_1496591.bc

http://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler/index.aspx