Your baby, 21 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

Even though you might be interested in getting your child involved with other children her own age, she is most interested in you and her own things. She enjoys playing and interacting with you and other close caregivers the most. If there is another child that your child is exposed to often, she will develop a friendship. You will even notice that your child fusses and fights less with the familiar child than she does when exposed to strangers. Play is the main way that children learn and develop new skills. You can encourage your child to play with other children, but never force her to do so if she is not interested. During playtime with other children, have 2-3 duplicate items on hand to decrease the chances of fighting. At this age, children do push and poke each other to say hello. Show her how to be gentle, caring and sensitive to the feelings of other children.

Most parents of toddlers this age notice that children tend to `act up` and be on their worst behavior when they really want them to be on their best behavior. Learning how to deal with your child's behavior, and even prevent naughty behavior is important. You should be reasonable in your expectations. Everyone knows that children this age do not have long attention spans, do not like to share and often have a hard time sitting still. Therefore, a trip to the library for storytime should be kept short. Playtime with friends needs to be carefully monitored and again, should be kept to a shorter time frame. Prepare your child before you go out by telling them where you are going and how you want them to behave. If he needs to be quiet in the library, tell him so. If you are going somewhere that he might get bored, tired or hungry-prepare for that. Take a snack or a few toys with you. Praise your child for positive behavior and if you see that he is not behaving properly, pull him aside and remind him quietly of how he supposed to act and what the consequences are.

Your child's language skills are really taking off! At this point she can say approximately 20 words. She still enjoys reading books, singing songs and saying nursery rhymes. Even though your child tries to follow directions, remember to keep any directions simple and clear. If you want her to pick up her toys, take them to her room, get her teddy bear and get ready for bed, tell her one command at a time. If you give too may instructions at one time, she will get confused and frustrated. Although she really does want to please you and other caregivers, sometimes she will refuse to do what you have asked her to do.

Your child is becoming more and more independent. As long as you have showed your toddler the proper way of doing so, he can wash and dry his hands after using the restroom, playing outside or before a meal. Children need to be shown how to properly wash their hands so that germs are limited. Your toddler can hold a cup and drink from it. If the cup does not have a lid on it, be prepared for some spills. Children this age still need to learn how far they must tip the cup to drink from it. You may also notice that he can put his own shoes on his feet. He may occasionally put his shoes on the wrong feet and he can not tie the shoelaces yet.

Developmental Milestones - 21 Months Old

Physical

• Can walk upstairs with both feet on step
• Likes to run
• Still likes to climb
• Enjoys dancing
• Tries to jump

Intellectual

• Can say about 20 words
• Tries to follow directions
• Enjoys reading, but may tear the pages
• Likes tiny objects
• Can recognize and name people from photographs
• Can put together a simple 3-4 piece puzzle
• Can wash and dry hands

Emotional

• Becoming less self centered
• Beginning to enjoy other children
• Parents are still favourites
• Stingy and selfish sometimes
• Knows what is his and what is not

Age Appropriate Toys

• Puzzles
• Books
• Climbing toys
• Stringing beads
• Shape sorters
• Art supplies
• Outside toys
• Musical toys
• Interactive educational toys
• Pretend pla

Comments:

Comments 26-50 of about 2532 for month 21
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joeyandzacksmommy2007 - Sunday, 23 Aug
oh something else..Zack has been suffering from severe leg pain, gas and bad diarrhea now....what to do what to do....

joeyandzacksmommy2007 - Sunday, 23 Aug
So guys I am home from my trip..It was horrible..My borthday sucked and well I am so not sure how to feel at this moment. all i know is i love my daddy so much and to see him the way he is, is so heart breaking..We got there about 5am friday morning and this was after the comments were made they better not show up cuz all hell will break loose if they do..well regardless of the threats we went anyway cuz he is our father too. we got a hotel slept for a little bit ran around saw my neice (that was drama towards me to cuz her mother looked at my brother and said i did not know u brought that ugly b****. not sure what that was about cuz i have done nothing wrong hell i have not even seen her in over 3yrs..but whatever i was heated but there were kids around and i have respect for the kids unlike her..so we hang out for a good part of the afternoon then we head to the hospital. in the room were my two brothers and SIL. well the look on thier face was shock but they were nice to us cuz dad was there. anyway we stayed for a long while and well after the others left my dad became more relaxed and open with us. when we were getting ready to leave Joey looked at him and said grampy I love you and my dad teared up. i have never seen my dad cry at all. then he became emmotional and i had to say goodbye to him cuz i had to leave. i just let him know that we came up to see him and that I love him very much and he said i know you do tammy please come back before you head home to say goodbye. So we went back the next day but he was on his way to PT and so it was a quick visit. I feel like i saw my dad for the last time on my birthday which just dampered the day then my two neices teh ones i raised turned on me and have stopped talking to me yesterday too. not sure why but i think it has to do with the fact that we did not stop and spend our whole time with them while we we there. we invited them to the hotel when we got back which they were fine with but then five minutes before they were coming they text me all this stuff on how this and that and well they have not talked to me since and will not return text or calls. so all in all my last two days have sucked and to top it all off i did not get to see my mother cuz she went into a depression and will not talk to anyone(i fear they already up'd her medicine)*****So they gave my dad 1 month to 5 yrs depending if he can handle kemo and radiation. (which from the sounds of it is unlikley..update since starting to write this i was able to get a hold of my mother and talked to her and she is not doing well eiter. but she did say she appreciated how we went there and also she can not understand what is going on with everyone else..well she knows we love her too. gotta go for now will fill in more later joey wants the PC

Bita1588 - Sunday, 23 Aug
Well, I'm working 7 days this week, so I don't know if I will be on here much, but I hope you ladies have a great week!

Bita1588 - Sunday, 23 Aug
Double that is one thing I NEVER allowed, sitting on the table was a no no b/c I knew that that would have to be how it was every time. As far as eating off of our plates I don't really mind it but I usually put it on his plate or finish and then give it to him and Brandon always wants my forks b/c I give him the plastic child kind and it frustrates him b/c they won't stab food, and I do always make him tell me down please, but thats the extent of my 'manners'. Luv good luck with tht child lol i can only imagine as well..lol. Bek..yay dylan!! Wow, Robin he is so tall!! I'm sorry about your sisters oldest, I hope she gets better soon, I hope she realizes how many people are there for her. Precious, honestly I smack my LO, and tell him 'no bite' very firmly. He's only bit me about twice or so, mainly when he is excited or something, never to be rude or anything. I don't have a problem with biting, but I started very early telling him no bite. Good luck with that.

RobinG - Saturday, 22 Aug
Many many TX!! (()) I would def see a GI doc too, AJ had been to an ENT for a number of years and it wasnt til he went to a GI doc that it was discovered. Prayers he doenst have long term concerns Please keep me posted :) .. TY so much regarding Daniel, this weekend has been rough ~ 4 months now that sis is gone and it is really taking a toll on us all, esp her girls. And it is now intervention time so all the more emotiona sadly :( One day at a time is all I can say... Her girls have not been tested yet but will soon thankfully. you are so right, it is so hard to treat depreission when it is in regards to something that cant be changed or fixed. My sis is not coming back and it sucks in every way shape and form. And my other sis is fighting for her life. But having a doc to vent to to understand your grief and how to cope and live with it helps. Sadly my coping mechanism is to put on a good front and while it works and I can function that way it doesnt help down inside so I'm too am working on ways to allow my self to feel and face my pain. Just to many losses and pain to face so it is hard. ((hugs)) ..on a side note I saw a bumper sticker today that was funny. It is true for some and others def not true but funny none the less :) 'Single girls cant fart because they dont have an asshole til they get married.'

3rdtimer - Saturday, 22 Aug
ROBIN - thanks for your suggestion about Clem's ears. That's interesting that your nephew also had the ear troubles without having a cold. I think I will book into the ENT and suggest that to him. It's not an ongoing thing that badly affects Clem's life but I am concerned that maybe there could be some permanent damage eventually from the ears just bursting often. *** It sounds like your family has a really good way of dealing with things. Daniel is lucky he has a family that is taking his depression etc seriously and not just blaming it on typical teenage stuff and telling him to grow up. I really hope the medication helps him. (I know medication helps me... and hormonal upheaval like adolescence ... or childbirth... can be a big time for depression to kick in.) Your poor niece. How old is she? Has she also been tested for the breast cancer gene? It would be terrible to not only be missing your mother but also thinking the same fate might be waiting for you... I know I'm becoming depressed when I think I shouldn't really have anything to feel down about. How do you treat deep depression when there are genuine reasons for feeling that way? The mind has to process, not just ignore.... Sending love to you and your family ((()))

3rdtimer - Saturday, 22 Aug
Precious - ow! I haven't had a 'biter' really but I would just deal with it by using time out I think, like I do for other unacceptable behaviour. She may just be struggling to express something and doesn't mean to hurt or realise it's not the done thing. I think time out (however you choose to do it - we do a short time of isolation in their bedrooms) seems to be an effective way of getting the message across.

*Precious.Moments* - Saturday, 22 Aug
Mornin ladies.. Hope all is well with everyone.. I have a question... Is anyone else having problems with their LOs biting?.. If so how do you handle it? My daughter just started this recently.. And yesterday she ran up like she was gonna give me a hug but buried her face in my thigh and bit so hard I screamed.. Now I have a bruise the size of a silver dollar.. How do I curb this behavior?

RobinG - Saturday, 22 Aug
My oldest had an exam yesterday :) Daniel. Not sure if you recall my concern over his rib but he said there is a good chance he is just a kid with skeletal abnomalities. Esp since he has various other small things not quite right like a small curve in back, inverted sternum, flat feet, etc etc. We can run tests or watch it to see if it changes so I opted to watch it since it doesnt hurt. He is seeing a doc for his depression and ADD, we are putting him on concerta. Starting low dose for now. We'll see. He has lot sto sort out becuase he really is depressed :( I so understand you 3rd when you said I love my son but at times I dont like him. He lashes out and I know it is becuase he is depressed. The family has been doing a few pow wows the last few days on dealing with our grief. My neice (my sisters that passed oldest daughter) is not doing well at all. She is falling apart and is suicidal right now. We are working on intervention as we speak. Daniel is 6 foot 1 inch!! He is HUGE!! And doc said he has a long way to go still!! Hope he stops at 6'6' like my DH. His shoe size is 14 already, DH is 15, lol. Daniel is only almost 14, lol. All in all it went well :) Now just to help him with his depression and ADD. School starts the 8th so we'll see how tings go once it starts. :) Big hugs all!! (())

RobinG - Saturday, 22 Aug
(((Dylan))) YEAH!!!!!!! That is awesome!! MY son starts his fall session of Soccer next week, cant wait!!! I LOVE watching him play :)Awww table manners :) WE had ot ask to be excused when we were kids but sadly I dont do it to mine formally :( We dont get to all eat together often so it was never a part of the routine but they will ask if they are done showing me their plate so I guess that is a form of asking ot be excused, lol. They do have to pick up their dishes etc and bring them to the sink :) ((3rd)) HAs you by chance had your son checked for reflux? Just as something to rule out ~ my nephew had ear tbues, ear infections back to back etc etc, nose ~ you name it. Turned out that when he finally saw a GI doc they discovered he had BAD reflux but it was more silent so not obvious and the fluid was coming up and settling in his ears and nose and causing all the infections. Not a cold or illness. Once she got him on strong meds he is great :)

luvbeingamom - Saturday, 22 Aug
YEA Dylan! That is great! It is so nice when fair play wins out!

3rdtimer - Saturday, 22 Aug
Yay Dylan and team!

Bek 30 - Friday, 21 Aug
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS....The boy's won their second game of soccer semi's which put's them thru to the finals next weekend...it was an agressive game, Dylan was tripped by the other team and as he went down he took out 4 of their players..they didn't get up, all played wounded, but Dylan got up laughing his ass off at them, but the ref refused to hand out penalties to either side, so the other team kept falling down...lol, didn't work though, we played fair and the result went our way...YIPPPPEEEEEEE, and I even had tears at the end of the match...one proud mum here and although Dylan didn't score the goals, he did set them all up for Jacob to knock them in..... YEA YEA... (sorry I am very proud and excited right now)!!!!!

luvbeingamom - Friday, 21 Aug
HAHA! That is funny. I think my craziness at the table come from YEARS at working at a restaurant. But i started them from the very first time they sat at the table. Even before they could talk/understand what i was saying, every time i took them from the table, i would say, yes you are excused. So they know. I don't have any idea what is up Jake's behind about it the last few days though. Today he refused again but this time we were heading to the pool after dinner. So he refused to say it, so he waited at the table while Josh and i got in our suits, then i picked him up put him the car. Then at the pool he sat in a chair there the WHOLE time b/c he still refused to say it. Then we had the ride home and he went to bed! The little shit! hehe. Sorry. I dread to think of what my life will be when this child is 15! haha!

3rdtimer - Friday, 21 Aug
Ah Double that made me laugh... Luv I think that's an amazing achievement and I admire your persistence in teaching such good manners! We only all sit down to eat together a few times a week so we have not got into too many rules. Except Jasper must not ask for dessert until everyone else has finished! He has this terrible habit of finishing his main meal then jumping straight up to ask me for dessert, even if I'm in the middle of eating my meal. (I told you all he was self-centred.) Argh - he has just lost Wii playing privileges for the weekend for doing oh I can't even remember what this morning!

doublemama - Friday, 21 Aug
luv...pleeeease come teach my kid table manners...i totally missed that window of opportunity and now she is a beast at the dinner table. oftentimes she will refuse to eat unless she is sitting ONTOP of the table...she will eat out of all of our plates, and demand our utensils...even when she has her own plate and her own utensils...and i can forget about her asking to be excused lol...i always tell people she was our guinea pig, we'll raise her brother correctly hopefully

2xmom - Friday, 21 Aug
luv- we have the same table manners at home! That's exactly what I would have done!

luvbeingamom - Friday, 21 Aug
Good Morning Ladies. Bek i am glad to hear that doc thinks all is well with Katy. Hopefully she will just snap out of it soon. *** As for cloths, i haven't bought either of my boys much. I had a friend of mine give me 10 large bins of cloths when Josh was born, ALL high end stuff ranging from newborn size to 4t. So really i just got some fillers. undershirts, socks, etc. Plus with my parents living so close, they buy them stuff all the time. hehe. Now that Josh is bigger i am going to have to start buying him things. I guess i am to frugal. *** SOOOO.. i think i have one of the MOST stubborn children. I am a bit of a 'mean mommy' when it comes to certain things. Table manners is one of them. So last night we are at the dinner table, everything went well, normal, until the end. We all finished eating (nobody is allowed up until we are all done), and josh said 'mommy can i be excused'. I said of course please take your plate to the sink. So he does and goes to play. Then Jake started to get down and i said 'wait Jake, what do you say?' He just glared at me. So i said 'Jake say please can i get down'. He glared more and said 'no'. So i said fine, sit there. So i went about starting to clean up the kitchen and talking to Josh. All the while i would look at jake and say 'are you ready to ask to be excused?' He would just say no. He never cried or fussed. Just sat there, for 35 minutes! Finally he watched Josh doing something he wanted to do and finally said 'please down'. So i said of course, take your plate to the sink. Then all was fine. He can be such a little shit! hehe. *** Bita, i know. I can't believe how fast they are growing. jake will be 22 months tomorrow. So sad!

Bita1588 - Friday, 21 Aug
So, now that this site put me in 22 months, it made me just realize how far we are into this month...wow it went by so fast! I cannot believe our LOs are almost 22 months, if not already! That means they are almost 2!! Can you believe it?! Man, they are getting old!

3rdtimer - Friday, 21 Aug
Bek I so agree with you about having different perspectives on other people's childraising after experiencing your own different kids! I have to say for the most part I have one of the 'easy ones' in Clem. He has a very sweet nature and doesn't climb on stuff, pull stuff apart etc. (Mind you he can throw a good tanty when he wants to and his eating habits leave a bit to be desired so I'm not getting off scott free!) However, my other two boys were sooo much more physical and Jasper in particular, well I went through a number of stages with him when I thought hey, I don't even like my own child. Sure I'll always love him but sometimes I just don't think he's a nice person!! He is much better now most of the time but he still is entirely focused on himself. Like just now I was comforting Clem after a nasty fall and Jasper comes up and says he wants more crackers with vegemite and tosses the plate at me (plastic), with no regard to the fact that I was dealing with his upset brother. Argh! But, he is the creative one who does amazing drawings and makes things that just blow us away. Different brains are wired so differently from the start! I'm glad Katy got the okay physically and like Bita said, keep an eye on it if you're still concerned. Good luck with your little wilful one :-)

Bita1588 - Thursday, 20 Aug
Well, if the doc says everything is fine, I guess the best thing to do is trust him...at least for awhile, but if you start seeing Katy loosing weight and such and it doesn't get better in time then i would definitley see someone else about it and perhaps get her tested, b/c we all know from previous happenings, that moms always right. Hope she gets better!!!

Bek 30 - Thursday, 20 Aug
3RD: See if u can get a referral to a ear/nose throat specialist, that way ure seeing someone that specialises in it, and will know more then the local dr's. I just had Katy at the doc, he said melatonin is supposed to make them eat, so he did a pysical on her..all fine...until she thre a major hissy fit for nothing..i had just finished telling him its like walking on egg shells around her, then suddenly like on cue she went mental. He said more then likely she has the terriable 2's and for me not to give into her...if she refuses to eat, just do what I have been doing all along and take her food away, he reckons she will test the waters on everything....god this is all new to me, I really do feel awful for saying things about parents who kids act the same way as Katy..I always thought it was the way kids were raised.....defintly not the case...hahahaha.

3rdtimer - Thursday, 20 Aug
I hear you all on the clothes shopping for your kids. I have bought Clem quite a lot more than I did for the other boys. But it is nice to dress your kids in things you have picked out for them. Because i hadn't had a little baby in 5 years when I had Clem, and because we lost a baby before that, I felt I was entitled to spoil my baby a bit! I have given away most of the little stuff now. We have a beautiful store here called Seed (it's a UK brand I think). Their stuff is pretty pricey but when they have a sale it's all half price. I have got some lovely things for all the boys there, on sale. I think everyone waits for the sales because most things are still available then haha! And it's very good quality, you know, like nice thick cotton that stays really soft, and actual woollen vests.

3rdtimer - Thursday, 20 Aug
Thanks for your advice girls... I probably should take Clem to the doctor about his ears... again.... The odd thing is that he doesn't get the real bad infection/fever etc to go along with it and sometimes he hasn't even had a cold. He'll just be whiny for a day or two, the whininess will peak then I'll notice snot-like goo coming out of his ear, even into his hair, and know it has popped. Then he'll be pretty much back to normal. Last time we had to get ear drops because it turned into a smelly outer ear infection but there was no infection behind the drum. He just somehow seems to get a buildup of pressure. The one time I took him to see the ENT doctor when I thought he was being irritable with ear pain, his ears were totally fine! There's kind of no way of knowing it is happening until it bursts. Oh well. I guess I gotta keep following it up with the docs.

Bita1588 - Thursday, 20 Aug
Luv, that would be akward, you can tell he definitely is regreting things, he knows he let a good thing go, but like you said, its too late. Good for you for standing up to him and not leading him on. That takes alot, especially since its what you wanted from the beginning. Double, I think that maybe, well i know that you need to take a day for yourself, let your mom take your daughter for the day of what have you and just relax, getaway with a girlfriend or something, it will do wonders! Go out to eat one night so you don't have to clean the kitchen, so you can go to bed perhaps early. 3rd, honestly I don't think its ever good and for it to happen over and over again, that defintely needs to get looked at and perhaps see if there is a solution for Clem's problem, thats maybe alot of pain that he doesn't need to go through.Shelly...serves him right, at least he got a dose of his own medicine!Bek, why don't you try taking her off the medicine if you think that could be the problem?? If that doesn't work go to the doctor, of do that first...there is no reason why shouldn't wouldn't eventually be hungry, I mean for a day or two maybe but eventually she should get hungry, you don't want her to loose to much weight so get he to the doctor.Bri, good luck with Clem and his big boy bed! How cute that is that he told you bye bye last night..too cute! I have never heard of Babystyle, I do however shop at BabyGap, Gymboree, and Children's Place, I'm not too big on the off brands either, however I have settled down a bit on shopping so the new clothes that Brandon does get are bought by someone else so there are a few from Walmart and such, they don't really fit as well which is the main reason I dont shop there, however I musdt admit that I do like Target, lol...I could shop there all day long!

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