1 to 2 Years

This is a busy year. Before your eyes, your baby turns into a toddler who walks, talks, and lets you know exactly how he feels. Toddlers are striving to discover who they are and to exert their independence and control. Of course, the sense of security you have provided for your baby helps your toddler feel confident enough to be independent at times. Very often, however, he will need your smiles, hugs, and comfort as reminders that you are there to protect and love him.

As your toddler strives for independence, offer him safe choices whenever possible, keep his day as predictable as possible (toddlers love routine), and support his individuality. By following his interests, you encourage curiosity and creativity, and you build his self-esteem. He soaks up all of your words and attention.

Toddlers love books, rhyming games, and simple songs. Your child will want to hear the same story over and over again. Repetition – repeating a story – helps him learn. Toddlers also enjoy playing with other children, but it’s too early to expect him to understand what it means to share or take turns. Instead of scolding, try distracting him with something interesting.

Remember, neatness is not part of what it means to be a toddler. Your child is preparing for life when he tries to feed himself or drops his spoon to see where it goes. Put a mat under the high chair to catch messes and provide a safe place to learn these new skills.

Physical Development

As your child’s first teacher, you can:

• Create lots of safe places in your home where your toddler can explore without any fear of danger.
• Dance to music and clap when your toddler moves to music.
• Help your toddler build block towers.
• Let your toddler help when you’re dressing him and talk about what you are doing.
• Help your toddler finger paint pictures and make forms with Play Doh.
• Provide finger foods at mealtime and encourage your toddler to feed himself.

Typical 2-year-old Milestones

• Walks without assistance
• Dances to music
• Stacks blocks to build a tower
• Helps while getting dressed
• Enjoys playing with finger paints
• Uses a spoon to eat

Language Development

As your child’s first teacher, you can:

• Repeat what your child says correctly. If he says “ju-ju”, you might say, “You want your juice,”
• Read, read, read! Read at least one picture book to your toddler every day and talk about what you see.
• Talk about what is happening. “Here are some blocks. Let’s stack the blocks.”
• When reading books, ask your toddler simple questions about the pictures. Point to what you are talking about. Sing action songs that require moving hands and feet.

Typical 2-year-old Milestones

• Uses gestures as well as voice to help communicate
• Puts two-word sentences together to express wants and needs
• Understands sentences and responds to simple questions
• Asks “why” repeatedly to engage adults in conversation
• Likes looking at picture books and reading and will point to pictures
• Enjoys hearing rhymes and songs

Intellectual Development

As your child’s first teacher, you can:

• Offer toys that represent real objects in his world such as play telephones to help him learn about being a “big person.”
• Give your toddler help when he needs it rather than pressing it on him too soon or ignoring him.
• Provide lots of good props for make-believe play.
• Pretending lays the foundation for advanced thinking skills.
• Name and point to your child’s body parts.
• Ask him to find a toy, blanket, or other belongings or ask him to name familiar objects.

Typical 2-year-old Milestones

• Understands objects still exist when out of sight
• Can imitate actions of others when that person is no longer in front of him
• Can take on the role of others in pretend play – feeds the doll rather than himself
• Recognizes belongings and toys
• Knows the names of favorite toys and familiar objects
• Refers to himself by name

Social/Emotional Development

As your child’s first teacher, you can:

• Provide your toddler opportunities to be with other children, but do not expect or pressure him to share. You can begin to introduce the idea of “taking turns.”
• Distract and divert, rather than saying “no” frequently, and in recognizing that your toddler does not yet have impulse control.
• Establish regular routines to avoid power struggles and to add structure and predictability for your toddler.
• Provide opportunities for your toddler to help with simple household chores and encourage him to do things for himself, such as eating, washing hands, and getting undressed.
• Give your toddler lots of hugs, smiles, and praise.
• Typical 2-year-old Milestones
• Enjoys being around other children for short periods of time but often ignores others or chooses to watch. Interactions are typically fleeting, but toddlers learn a lot from their peers.
• Seems more comfortable than before with strangers
• Notices when others are upset
• Wants to help with household chores
• Follows simple rules but may need to be reminded

Basic Equipment

• Large push and pull toys
• Washable cloth toys, dolls, and stuffed animals (make sure all parts are permanently attached)
• Pretend play toys such as dress-up and housekeeping items
• Unbreakable mirrors
• Sand and water play materials
• Small wooden and lightweight blocks
• Simple 4-5 piece puzzles
• Cloth, plastic, or cardboard picture books
• Shape sorters, matching games, containers to nest and stack, pegs
• Art materials such as crayons, markers, paper, finger paints, and Play Doh
• Musical toys – bells, rattles, and lightweight banging instruments
• Texture balls and tunnels
• Low, soft climbing platforms
• Stable ride-on toys propelled by pushing with feet

A Few Book Suggestions

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin a fun, repetitious book filled with animals and colors
• Lily and Willy by M. Alexander a book about two friends, one with a doll and one with a teddy bear
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle fun, beautiful book with repetitious words and familiar foods
• Where Does it Go? by Margaret Miller toddlers will love figuring out the right and wrong places to put their belongings
• Zip, Whiz, Zoom! by Stephanie Calmenson go for a trip to grandma’s house in many different vehicles

Concerns about Learning and Growing

If you are worried about your child’s development in any area – physical, language, intellectual, or social/emotional – talk to your health care provider, your child’s care giver or teacher. You are in a better position than anyone else to sense when something may be wrong. As a new parent, you may have doubts about your knowledge of typical development, but you should trust your intuition and observations.

If you feel you are overly concerned or pushing your child to “catch up”, ask for an evaluation. If your health care provider assures you that all is well, but you continue to think there are problems, ask for a referral for a developmental assessment. Children can overcome many problems of development. The earlier the problem is identified and early intervention is started, the better the outcome.