Your Toddler…You can…
Is using and understanding a lot of new words.
  • Play games that name objects and different parts of the body. Ask her to wave her hand, stamp her foot, blink her eyes.
  • Speak slowly and simply to her. Talk about places you are going before you go, while you are there and after you get home.
  • Look at her when she talks and take a little extra time to listen and understand what she is trying to say. Encourage her to tell about things she sees and has done, and praise every effort to talk.
Is moving faster and more independently.
  • Give your child toys to push, pull and ride. When pulling a toy, she will learn to walk sideways and backwards to watch the toy.
  • Attach a rope to a cardboard box to create a kind of wagon. Show your child how to put some favorite things inside and pull it from room to room.
  • Take your toddler to the playground. Go down the slide with her, and help her on the swing and the climbing bars.
  • Dance with your toddler to different kinds of music.
Can hear very well and can recognize some things just by their sounds.
  • Have your child close her eyes and then figure out what she's hearing. Clap your hands, ring the doorbell, shake a toy. Can she find what made the noise?
  • Buy or borrow nursery rhymes and songs on tape. Play favorites over and over and encourage her to sing or say the rhyme herself.
Likes to try new things and exert her independence from you.
  • Provide things with handles, like toy rakes, brooms, hammers or shovels. You can even use real "adult-sized" toothbrushes, hair brushes, spoons, scoops or paint brushes. Encourage her to pretend to do real-life activities.
  • Give your child telephones, computer keyboards, cooking tools and other "real-life" items that no longer work. (Always remove cords, plugs and small removable parts, and supervise their play.)
Is becoming more independent, but still needs you to provide a safe and healthy environment.
  • Help her develop good food habits, offering a variety of healthy food choices. Let her help cook, so she is more likely to eat what you prepare.
  • Fasten all doors leading to stairways or other dangerous areas. Add extra locks out of your childís reach, if you have to.
  • Never leave your child alone in a tub, wading pool or near a pond or lake. Drowning can happen in only a few inches of water.

 

Source: Tips from Tots: A Resource Guide for Your Infant and Toddler by Cindy Baker and Toby Long. Vort Corporation.