Your baby, 20 months 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 and older

Parents and children form special bonds and should have a close and loving relationship. Children that feel secure, protected and cared for are more likely to display good behavior. When your child shows signs of distress, tend to their needs. This shows your child that you love him and care for him.

Children at this age enjoy learning about the world around them. Allow your child to play in the sand, water, dirt and even mud. Yes, it can get messy-but that is okay. Provide your child with a clean sandbox and keep it covered when not in use to keep dogs, cats and other pesky critters out. While bathing, give your child containers that he can pour water into. Allow her to play with measuring cups and spoons, sponges, washcloths, funnels and collanders during this time also. While you are outside, you may choose to give your child a bucket of water and let her `paint` the house, car and other thins with the water. Remember that children should not be left alone with water for any amount of time.

You may notice that your child is beginning to have temper tantrums. She may cry, hit, bite, kick, yell and throw himself on the floor. Sometimes, you may not even know what caused the ourburst. Sometimes children learn that by throwing a tantrum, they can get what they want. Other times, tantrums are simply your child's way of venting frustration or showing that she is hungry, tired or bored. Although there are no magical ways of handling tantrums, you can help your child (and others!) by remaining calm, keeping your child from hurting herself or others, removing your child from an audience and not giving in to the tantrum. Once she is calm, talk to her and let her know that even though it is okay to be upset, her behavior was unacceptable.

Your child might be ready to begin playing with other kids his own age. Keep your child's playgroup small-no more than four children for every one adult. Ask other parents to stay and play. Not only is adult conversation good for you, but the other children will feel more secure with a familiar face nearby. Allow the children to choose their own activities and do not force them to interact. Provide duplicates of toys, if possible, to eliminate arguments. Encourage sharing, but do not expect it. Try to ignore minor conflicts and respond tp bigger conflicts quickly and calmly. The key to a successful playdate is to keep the children busy with simple and interesting activities.

Developmental Milestones - 20 Months Old

Physical

• Climbs up stairs well
• May climb downstairs with some help
• Runs well
• Hops around
• Can stand on one foot while holding on

Intellectual

• Can say 15 words
• Likes nursery rhymes
• Asks questions
• Can draw lines
• Understands what they are used for
• Can feed herself well
• Goes to bed without complaining (too much

Emotional

• May be afraid of strangers
• Stingy with toys
• Loving and then rude at times
• May be mean to adults

Age Appropriate Toys

• Art supplies
• Books
• Ride on toys
• Pretend play
• Blocks
• Lincoln logs
• Puzzles
• Stringing beads
• Shape sorters
• Interactive educational toys
• Sand and water table
• Wagon

Comments:

Comments 51-75 of about 2457 for month 20
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shelly32 - Sunday, 26 Jul
I usually move on to the next month whenever everyone else does...Jack won't be 21 months until the 14th so whenever you guys jump i will!

shelly32 - Sunday, 26 Jul
Juliasf - My DH used to do the same thing when we had weekends off - we would take turns getting up in AM (even though i was big and pregnant and spent most of the nite up peeing!) and on his mornings I would have to listen to Jack talking and playing over the intercom until he woudl start whining and DH would have to get up...i of course can't sleep while he's over there playing! I like when he gets up at 3:30 and is always like - 'i just got up from sleeping, give me like 15 minutes' and I simply say you're right hunni you deserve those 15 minutes because I get them in the morning too, I just tell Jack and Anna to hold on while I try and wake up! I mean seriously...do men not use their brains? He has never watched both our kids for more than an hour or two and i've always been in the house!!!!! men are impossible!!

Bri - Sunday, 26 Jul
Luv, I hear you. Joe is around and may or may help. He's good with Kekoa but it feels better when he does do something cause I don't expect it. Ok, it's a little different but your outlook is better.

We did have a wonderful day at the beach today. Went swimming but now I'm exhausted. It's like 90 here today and we don't have a/c. All the fans are going and Kekoa has been a pill. At least he's happy now that he got to go play in the water. He's pretty much got the swimming part down but when he gets tired he sinks. HAHA! So we have to been there all the time for him.

So, what other activities are you all doing. I don't do playdough or cranyons because Kekoa still eats it. At restaurants we try cranyons and they always go into the mouth. We go to different parks, walks, swim, books and puzzles. Plus he does have toys but I want to do activities. I got a 1000 toddler activities book but the 18-30months crafts and such are really old for him. He wouldn't get it or end up messing it all up. I need help keeping him and myself entertained.

luvbeingamom - Sunday, 26 Jul
I am telling you ladies, sometimes it is easier when you have NO expectations. I wake up and know that nobody is going to help (b/c nobody is here) and i wake in a much better mood and disposition for the day then when Craig would pull that stuff on me. Plus he would go to bed at 8 or so and still complain about getting up with the boys. Not that i have a good solution for you, b/c separation/divorce is lonely.

J&Z - I am good with moving. jake has been 21 months now for 4 days :-( he is still so tiny though. he wore a 12-18 month old shirt today. HAHA!

Well today for me was crazy. it was good, but crazy. We left the house at 10am this morning and got home at 5, ate dinner and then went out to play until 8 when i came in and put the kids to bed. Silly errands! hehe. I did get a lot done today. I got the filter for my fridge (it has only been a month! haha), got my mom's birthday gift (her birthday was the 17th!), got the kids hair cuts and got all the grocery shopping done. The boys were great considering they didn't get naps today. I don't know how they made it till 8. Though as soon as i got them in to get them cleaned up and in bed they were clearly melting. Hopefully they sleep well tonight.

juliasf - Sunday, 26 Jul
OMG Shelley32- I am so laughing. This has been one of the issues this week (well always) in our house. I am the one who gets up every morning- between 6 and 7 with Sofia AND on top of that, my husbands snoring keeps me awake the other half of the night so i am always exhausted! And I am not one who needs a lot of sleep. So I have been telling him one or two mornings a week he needs to get up with her so I can try and get a little more sleep. Well this morning was his turn and he kept telling Sofia to give him a few more minutes to get out of bed (needless to say I have to be awake through all of this) Then when he finally does take her into the other room, she keeps coming into the bedroom, calling me, climbing up on the bed and he says nothing to get her to come back to him. And then when I finally do get up, he tells Sofia, 'Ok I've been with you for two hours, now it's your mom's turn.' and goes back to bed!!! Ughhh!!!!

joeyandzacksmommy2007 - Sunday, 26 Jul
Are we gonna move up a month tomorrow. this is usually the time we go about and actually let our kids be a mmonth older ***tear*** as sad as that may be

joeyandzacksmommy2007 - Sunday, 26 Jul
wow that was alot to read...i have introduced playdoh yet to zack cuz he does put everything in his mouth..his eating sucks..he will not eat anything i give him. he does drink alot though still..his fever has broken and i was pleased we were able to go out and have a stress free fun relaxed well desreved well needed day LOL...10 more days to his mri..other then that just taking it day by day.(cuz with zack i never know what the next tragedy is).oh his foot looks much better and his bruise between his eyes is gone.. almost looks normal again...

shelly32 - Sunday, 26 Jul
ugh i get so irritated with my Dh - he was in college full time until May, so we lived off of my income and his savings until he graduated in May. He now works 3rd shift so like today for example he worked from 12am until 6am and is sleeping. I put Jack down for his nap at 11 and said i had to run to the store and i'd be back but Jack is napping. He calls me 20 minutes later asking where i was and gettin mad because Jack was still awake ( playing in his crib, not crying). So i said what would you like me to do i'm already out and about he'll probably fall asleep in a few minutes. He was just irritated that his playing was keeping him from sleeping. I simply reminded him that when he wakes up at 2am screaming and I have both children to tend with I dont call him and tell him to leave work...i dont get why men think that their sleep and time is more important? uggghhh!!!

3rdtimer - Sunday, 26 Jul
Oh Bek I wish I knew how to make this happen more often! Andy just said to me 'I've done more today than I have in about the last 3 years I reckon' and I just quietly agreed, lol. It's incredible, he's had this big purge of stuff he's been hoarding for years. You can actually see the floor in our study. Now if he can only get an office and get the archive boxes he's stuffed full out of here... yay! Every single light in the house is working. The toilet door closes properly. I really think some other being has taken possession of my husband's body. I mustn't utter a sarcastic word about it though for fear it may stop!

Bek 30 - Sunday, 26 Jul
3rd: Please get ure hubby to have a quiet word to mine please, all weekend it has been what he wants to do, not what I want...his whinging now at 7.30pm that his work clothes ain't done....it took all I had to just wash Katies clothes, u know how when ure so sick with the flu, u do one simple task, but once ure finished, ure shaking all over, ure heart is beating way to fast and all u wanna do is sleep, well thats how I felt from just putting Katies clothes in the washer, having a break then putting it in the dryer....stuff him, no clean clothes for work, poor baby, he should have thought about it this morning before allocating his whole day to detailing and washing his car....lol.

Bek 30 - Sunday, 26 Jul
Shelly, Sorry to burst ure bubble, but even when they r 9 they refuse to tell u they are not hungry until u put the plate in front of them....lol, and yes it is very fustrating..Dylan is a pain in the ass..he refuses to eat breakfast unless I order it...so he never eats breakfast, most nights he wants take away, which I only buy once a week, so he just picks at dinner every night, but for school, I always let him order his lunch, that way I know he is ordering what he wants, and atleast it doesn't end up at the bottom of the garbage can...hahaha, I must admit though, I am so lucky with Katy, she eats whatever I put in front of her, actually I even catch her pulling food out from a hiding spot, or she eats the dog and cat food, as long as she has food to pick at all day I am quiet lucky, and when she doesn't eat, I know she is coming down with something.

NovemberGift - Saturday, 25 Jul
hi ladies my father is staying with me for a few days, and he is harder work than my toddler haha! (he doesnt so much as lift a cup for himself but my baby is enjoying his company!) have been reading up on everything... J&Z how is the progress on zack and the doctors? sorry i may have missed an earlier update. good to know his weight is improving, good sign!

3rdtimer - Saturday, 25 Jul
My DH is suddenly full of get up and go this weekend and has been replacing lightbulbs all over the house and went and bought a heap of storage boxes etc to sort out his incredible 'nest' of work stuff in our study. He said 'somebody has kidnapped your husband and replaced him with someone who actually does something'. Haha! I am remaining very quiet so as not to disturb whatever mood has come over him....

3rdtimer - Saturday, 25 Jul
Oh shelly I'm glad you found out what Jack was scared of! Clem is often scared of toys that make noises. He's kinda fascinated but just a bit too freaked out to play with them. Like I bought him a rubber duckling that looks really realistic and it makes a great quack noise when you squeeze it. But it's a bit freaky for him!

shelly32 - Saturday, 25 Jul
As for eating habits, Jack tends to eat one really big meal each day and picks the rest of the day. he's entered into a new thing where he doenst want to sit in a chair to eat, he wants to be able to come and go as he pleases (as in while he's playing with his trains). Sometimes he will go a few days with harldy eating anythign and then just eat a huge meal (reminds me of a snake or something haha). they say they will eat when they are hungry, i think it's just more annoying when you take the time to prepare something and then they refuse it - rather than say are you hungry for this? And get a true answer!

shelly32 - Saturday, 25 Jul
As for play-doh we introduced jack to this about when he turned one (supervised of course) and he likes to watch us make things with it, but when he has it all he does it pull it apart into a million little pieces. he doesnt try to eat it, but will occasionally lick it haha.

shelly32 - Saturday, 25 Jul
Had to do some reading to catch up...Ugh the past few days have been so crazy with his sleeping! OK so I read everyones comments about what to do for bedtime...this is the situation, he was in his crib and suddenly learned to climb out (his lovely cousin taught him how to climb his pack n play and now his crib). So we babyproofed whole room and took off the front rail of his crib (it can't be lowered, only removed to make a toddler bed). The first night was when he ended up being sick so he went to bed quite easily, but it was nearly impossible to get him to lay down once he woke up. I dont mind him playing so much but he suddenly wouldn't let us walk away from his room and kept saying 'scared' and 'noise' - the only noise is his air conditioner. We tried putting the rail on the front that's like a small rail (for toddler beds) - that made no difference. So for the second night he ende dup sleeping on just his mattress in the hallway so he oculd see into our room (he will not sleep in our bed for some reason - i tried haha). So we put the rail back on his crib to create security and htought all would be well but no still screaming 'scared' and 'noise' so again last night he slept on mattress in the hallway. Was up at 4am wouldn't sleep finally napped at 11am until 3:30! So i told hubby OK let's take the A.C. out of his room and also try a radio (he takes naps just fine at my parents house). So sure enough, he said 'scared bye-bye' after AC was gone and he is sleeping peacefully! Sorry for the novel - i was reading they can start all kinds of fears/phobias at this age...I just hope the problem is solved (he is back in crib and can climb out but I do have an extra toddler mattress pushed up against it just in case!)

*Precious.Moments* - Saturday, 25 Jul
Luv for real!... It gets so hot you can literally fry an egg on the sidewalk.. No joke!.. I lived there 20 years and I dont miss it in the least!..

Well I just looked up homemade playdoh on the net.. Made a little bit.. It was SOOOO easy to make!.. Baby woke up cranky and didnt want anything to do with it Lol.. Daddys got her at the park so I can have a break Lol..

luvbeingamom - Saturday, 25 Jul
Precious - My friend just moved to AZ from MN and every time i ask him how he is doing his reply, is 'other than the temps you can cook in, great!' haha. I can't imagine living in a place that has reg temps that high. If your oven goes that high, you aren't suppose to feel it outside :-)

I have done playdough with Jake. He loves it. I have 2 special plastic table cloths that i got on the clearance racks from bed bath and beyond. I put one the floor and one on the table. Then i let him go to it. Oh and they are usually in diaper only. VERY EASY Clean up! But i am crazy when it comes to stuff like that. I make St. Patty's day traps every year and do finger painting regularly and let my children play with markers and hole punches. :-)

3rdtimer - Saturday, 25 Jul
I was just thinking about play dough for Clem. I reckon they would be starting to enjoy it although yeah, messy! Then I thought he probably gets to play with it at childcare so if i don't do it at home just yet he's not being deprived, lol! They do it without the salt at childcare so it doesn't matter if the little ones eat it. Then they throw it out at the end of the day or send it home with one of the kids because it can last a few days.

Bek I hope the medications kick in for you all soon. The whole swine flu thing... the reports are so conflicting. And they keep telling us on the news when another person has died with it but so far they have all had 'underlying medical conditions' i.e. swine flu was one of the things that pushed them over the edge of being really ill anyway. So why bother reporting it? Do they report every time regular flu is a factor in someone dying? No. It's just apparently so much more newsworthy to hear 'swine flu' because it sounds exotic and scary.

As for birthday gifts, yeah, books will be on the list and maybe a DVD or two, trying to wean Clem off his addiction to Night Garden and Pingu which are what he always wants! We have managed to get a bit of Shaun the Sheep into his repertoire which is good because the big boys enjoy that too. As far as other toys go, probably not much because we have so much already with the 3 boys.

*Precious.Moments* - Saturday, 25 Jul
Luv.. We lived in az until march.. We just moved a couple times around the city.. Small house to big house.. Big house to townhouse Lol.. Ridiculous.. My poor child.. on the flip side though she never gets bored Lol.. We just moved up into the Rockies in March (thats why I havent been around in awhile.. Gettin things settled and the net back on).. Snows alot Lol.. Although right now were seeing 90 degree temps.. Beats 115 though!

Art supplies and books are great!.. Didnt even think of those.. We do the library a few times a week and she found a blues clues book that has a park/swing picture.. Now when she wants to go to the park she brings that book out and points to the swings.. Too cute!..

Are they ready for playdoh at this age?.. Im not worried about her eating it so much as smearing it into everything Lol..

luvbeingamom - Saturday, 25 Jul
Precious - I am happy to hear that he found something else quickly and that it all worked out. Where did you move to that is cold? Didn't you just leave AZ?

Bek - I hope you feel better soon. Everyone is crazy about the swine flu here too. Every time someone goes into the doc sick they test for it. Craig was just tested for it when he found out he had broncitis (sp?), he went back today to find out that he had walking pnemonia. I really hope he didn't pass it to the boys! Well that and he feels better soon. :-) Also, He is suppose to have them tuesday and again next weekend and they are looking forward to that.

Well for a birthday gift, i will prob get him new cloths and/or shoes. I know that is lame and all, but i get him something small from Josh. Then my parents, brothers and Craig always get toys. We also have more toys and more books then i can actually deal with . I am actually filtering some out and putting them downstairs to rotate them. The only other thing i thought about getting him is some more art supplies. Construction paper, markers, finger paints, etc.

mamasuzy - Saturday, 25 Jul
books books books! i have found them to be amazing for keeping her still, focused, and actually get her to learn and increase her vocab. and they make pretty fun books these days with sound effects, lil keyboards attached, etc so it can also be like a toy as well. i also love that they dont take up much space. luckily my daughter is a bookworm so it works out.

*Precious.Moments* - Saturday, 25 Jul
I know its like 3-4 months early.. But what kinds of toys are yall plannin on gettin the little ones for their birthdays?... We know what were doin for xmas but have no clue as to what to get our daughter for her 2nd birthday.. It snows alot where we are now so I know were gonna be looking at alot of indoor toys..

Bita1588 - Saturday, 25 Jul
Oh goodness, don't even get me stared with Brandon and his cracker habit, lol. As soon as he wakes up he wants yogurt and crackers, lol. He LOVES his yogurt, to an extent that we have to stay stocked b/c when we arent, oh man does he throw his fit, lol. Crackers seems to be the only thing he eats too, but I must admit he is also in love with his fruits and vegetables, all kinds, well except tomatoes, for so reason he grew out of that, and honestly i'm okay with it b/c neither me nor the hubby like them.

Bek, that would tick me off too, I'd be so angry b/c most likely they aren't even 'seeing' the patient, they are just assuming everyone who is sick has the swine flu these days, like come on I think I would know if I had the flu of some sort.

Precious, yes I am already using floride toothpaste, and my dentist also told me to go ahead and give it to my LO b/c it makes there teeth stonger and such.

Luv, Brandon doesn't like mac and cheese either, never has, I don't like it either, but I used to and it seems that it would be something all kids like for some reason, of course Brandon doesn't really like any forms of pasta except spaghetti, so its probably just the texture, maybe he will get over it, b/c it would be alot easier just to make him some mac, lol.

Well, off to make lunch, talk later.

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