Physical Development: Climbing and Balancing
Now that your child has mastered walking, they’re eager to test their skills in more challenging ways. Balancing on a log, walking along a curb, or climbing anything that makes them feel taller are thrilling activities. Many toddlers have a natural inclination to climb, which may surprise you. While you may worry about potential falls, providing safe opportunities for climbing and balancing can channel their energy and foster physical development. Toddler-safe playgrounds are excellent places to encourage these activities.
You may also observe that your child’s physical abilities are catching up with their desire for independence. Look for signs of strength and agility, such as rearranging chairs, attempting to climb out of the crib, or moving large objects like toy boxes.
What You Can Do:
- Safe Environments: Offer safe places for your child to practice balancing and climbing, both indoors and outdoors.
- Playground Activities: Utilize playground equipment that combines steps, ladders, slides, and balance elements to support your child’s physical development.
- Indoor Play: Create indoor play spaces with items like plastic slides, pillows for cushioning, and cardboard blocks for building and balancing.
- Encourage Independence: Foster your child’s independence by allowing them to explore and experiment with physical activities, providing support and supervision as needed.
Self-Feeding Skills
By 21 months, many toddlers have developed decent self-feeding skills, such as using a spoon, fork, and cup. However, consistency in using these skills at the family table varies among children. Some toddlers may become tidier eaters, while others continue to explore food with their hands for months to come.
Transitioning from Bottles:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends weaning toddlers off the bottle by 18 months.
- Transition gradually, substituting a sippy cup or kid-size cup for bottles during the day and easing away from bottles at meal times.
Nightmares and Night Terrors
While toddlers may not experience nightmares as frequently as older children, they can still be unsettling when they occur. Night terrors, characterized by intense fear and thrashing movements during sleep, are also relatively common in young children.
Managing Nighttime Fears:
- Provide reassurance and comfort to your child during nightmares, offering a favorite blanket or stuffed animal for additional comfort.
- Avoid bringing your child into your bed, as this can establish a habit that’s difficult to break.
- During night terrors, stay close, stay calm, and ensure your child’s safety without attempting to wake them forcefully. They will typically fall back to sleep soon afterward.
Language and Cognitive Development
Recognizing Faces:
- By showing your toddler pictures of familiar people, such as grandparents and close friends, they should be able to recognize their faces and may even say their names.
- Your toddler may also be able to pick themselves out in a recent group photo, demonstrating growing awareness of self-identity.
Attention to Detail:
- Your toddler’s ability to name body parts extends beyond themselves; they may also name or point to the same parts on a doll.
- While drawing a circle might still be a challenge, they’re becoming skilled at imitating simple shapes and drawing vertical lines.
- Fascination with small objects, especially bugs, is common at this age, as toddlers now have the coordination to pick up small items.
- Their awareness of senses is increasing, leading to curiosity about how things look, smell, taste, and sound.
- Some toddlers may display patience to sit and look at a book independently for a few minutes and can start to assemble simple jigsaw puzzles with two or three pieces.
What You Can Do:
- Choose books with tiny details that toddlers love to seek out, such as Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown or Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.
- Encourage language development by speaking frequently, clearly, and directly to your child, avoiding baby talk. Silly songs and finger plays can also stimulate language and thinking skills, providing enjoyable learning experiences.
- For example, singing “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” together not only entertains but also reinforces language and motor skills.
Behavioral Health and Development
Positive Discipline Tactics:
- Discipline involves teaching right from wrong rather than just punishing. Positive approaches encourage appropriate behavior and respect.
- Demonstrate good behavior yourself as children imitate adults. Speak respectfully and tell your child what you want them to do rather than focusing on what you don’t want.
- Establish simple household rules focusing on health and safety and reward positive behavior with specific praise.
- When criticism is necessary, address the behavior, not the child, and offer constructive feedback rather than pointing fingers.
- Reduce negativism by making declarative statements instead of yes-or-no questions.
- Biting is a common behavior in toddlers due to curiosity, frustration, teething, or imitation. Intervene before the biting occurs, offer solutions, and teach that biting hurts and is unacceptable.
How Routines Help:
- Establishing and maintaining set times for napping, eating, and bedtime provides a sense of security and control for your child.
- Routines simplify day-to-day planning and reduce resistance from your child.
- While routines should be consistent, they don’t have to be rigid, allowing for flexibility while maintaining a general order of events.
Picky Eating:
- Many toddlers at 21 months may display picky eating habits, preferring certain foods or textures over others.
- Avoid making a big deal about eating habits and continue to offer a variety of foods as part of family meals. Over time, most picky eating behaviors tend to resolve.
Social and Emotional Development
Strong Preferences:
- Toddlers at this stage often have strong preferences and may display obstinacy.
- Respect your child’s preferences and choices within reason, while making it clear that safety-related behaviors are not negotiable.
Learning to Share:
- Sharing is a skill that toddlers are still learning, and it’s normal for them to struggle with it at this age.
- Model sharing behavior, praise your child when they share, and use language to help them understand the concept of sharing.
- Avoid forcing sharing during playdates or giving away your child’s toys without their consent.
Enthusiasm for Activities:
- Toddlers are full of energy and enthusiasm for various activities, but they may find it challenging to shift gears from one activity or mood to another.
- Repetition is key for learning, but toddlers may have difficulty stopping once they start an activity.
Increased Self-Assurance:
- By 21 months, toddlers may show more comfort being away from their primary caregiver and may be willing to engage with other familiar adults.
- Improving language skills contribute to a sense of control, leading to increased attempts to master tasks independently.
- Many toddlers begin referring to themselves by their first name or as “I” around this age, indicating growing self-awareness.
- Use reassurance and encouragement to build your child’s confidence while providing support when needed.
Hygiene
Brushing Your Toddler’s Teeth:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends brushing your toddler’s teeth at least once a day.
- If you can only manage once a day, bedtime brushing is recommended to reduce the risk of cavity-causing bacteria multiplying overnight.
- Your child will likely need your help with brushing for several years until they develop the control and concentration to brush effectively on their own.
