Your baby, 23 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

As a parent, it is your responsibility to develop and build your toddler's self-esteem. Don't wait until your child is older to help him learn how special he is-start now if you have not already. Because everyone likes to be praised and acknoledged for a job well done, show your child will hugs, smiles and words of praise when he has done something well. Always try to focus on the positive and avoid negative feedback, when possible. Instead of telling your toddler what not to do, explain the correct method. Good communication skills will help your child's self esteem, confidence and relationships with others. Use kind words to get good results and build your child up. Smiles and happy facial expressions can also go a long ways towards developing your toddler's self-esteem.

Your toddler is very curious about the world around him! Listen to what your child has to say and always answer her questions. Toddlers often ask why the sky is blue or how to fix a broken toy. Most often, they do not understand how things work and we have to show them. Some toddlers will ask questions just to keep a conversation going. Your child might be able to respond to simple questions regarding their name, age, siblings names and colors, shapes and names of objects.

Children this age are more active than they have been and can actually begin to pedal tricycles. Remember to always provide a helmet to protect your child's head from falls. Your toddler can also throw a ball into a wastebasket or small hoop. Remember to give your child a variety of toys that encourage different types of development.

With the second birthday quickly approaching, you might notice that your child is ready to be toilet trained. Girls are often ready to train around two years old and most boys are ready around two and half. Do not rush toilet training and follow your child's lead. When you think that your child is ready to begin toilet training, make sure he knows the correct words. He needs to understand when he peed or urianted and pooped or had a bowel movement. Decide which words your family will use to describe these bodily functions. Make it easy for your child to toilet train by dressing him in loose-fitting clothes that are fast and easy to get down. Children often wait until the last minute to use the restroom and this will make it easier for him. Remember to praise your child when he uses the bathroom, but do not scold or punish for accidents or when he does not use the toilet. Encourage your toddler to sit on the toilet for a few seconds or minutes if they will, but it is best not to insist that your child sit on the toilet until he actually uses it because your child will soon become frustrated with sitting there.

Developmental Milestones - 23 Months Old

Physical

• Loves to climb
• Jumps well
• Runs well
• Can pedal a small tricycle
• Can throw a ball into a wastebasket

Intellectual

• Tries to ask questions during conversations
• Can answer simple questions
• Can put together a 4-6 piece puzzle
• Likes to read and turn pages

Emotional

• Likes to be with other children
• Does not share well
• Afraid of disapproval and rejection
• Interested in babies
• Likes to cuddle

Age Appropriate Toys

• Sand and water play
• Climbing toys
• Ride on toys
• Pretend play
• Dolls or stuffed animals
• Books
• Balls
• Alphabet toys
• Stringing beads
• Dolls
• Cars/trucks
• Dress up clothe

Comments:

Comments 76-100 of about 1484 for month 23
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juliasf - Monday, 19 Oct
All of you are making me have baby fever! We just have the one for now and it looks like she will be it. She just turned two last week---waahhh. She was all about her birthday this year. She couldn't stop talking about her birthday and there will be presents and balloons and cake... funny how she knew all of this. I think maybe she had only been to one birthday party that she could remember? I just put her Halloween photo up in the 'photobook' section. She's going to be a peacock! Funny, huh?

doublemama - Monday, 19 Oct
margy, i dont have much to offer since i dont have two yet. but a lady did stop me at the mall when she saw i was pregnant and already had a toddler and advised me to be sure that while im nursing i read books to my daughter or do some sort of activity with her so that it can be a 'one on one' time..and she can look at nursing the baby as an exciting time for herself. also giving em a lil 'job' or task to help out with might make your older one feel special and impt in the process. aside from siblings i did find that my sweet lil angel got pretty fiesty around 16-17 months..without a sibling in the picture..i think its some sort of turning pt in their personality where they are trying to assert their personalities and opinions. she has simmered down since then and so will urs hopefully.

luv, i never thought of it that way, that made it click how the older sibling must feel.

lol bri, though i dont wish my dillemas on anyone, but it is nice that we seem to share many! we r having the rocking chair issue as well. she can put herself to sleep, but not before i have sat in the rocking chair with the boppy for a cpl minutes with her. skip that part, and all hell breaks loose lol. i ended up buying another boppy just in case, and will probably end up having to buy another rocking chair!

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
Luv, I've never thought of it that way! That's an awesome way of looking at bringing home a second child. Today during nap I tried to put Kekoa down without rocking him first. He threw a fit. Usually we turn off the light, turn on the music and rock for maybe two minutes and I lay him down. Today I skipped the rocking becaues eventually the rocking chair is being moved to my room when Alex is born. Well, he would not have anything to do with it so I backed down and rocked him. It's weird how a two minute rock can be so soothing. Literally I don't even know if it's two minutes. A couple beats of the Hawaiian Lullaby?

luvbeingamom - Monday, 19 Oct
margysd - Every child goes through this to one extent or another. My older son did and for the most part he always looked at me like the lady with the food. If i didn't have food in hand, i wasn't important. Even he got jealous. A friend of mine told me something a nurse told her when shehad her second, 'Bringing a new child home is the same to your first child as it would be like your husband coming home with a new woman saying, honey here is my new wife. She is going ot live with us now. I am going to love her the same as i love you, now play nice'. :-) It is a hard adjustment for anyone. Give her one on one time with both you and your husband. But also do things to include her. I use to read goodnight moon to my son while i bf my baby. That way we could search for the mouse and talk while i 'had' to cuddle and feed the baby. I also would have him help me when he wanted with the baby to make sure he felt included. Good luck, it is a challenge but it is a wonderful one :-)

luvbeingamom - Monday, 19 Oct
Happy Birthday Katy! It is so bitter sweet. Jake turns two on thursday! So crazy. I want my baby back. It is breaking my heart to think i might not have more. I don't feel done, as much as i think i am. haha. I love being crazy! haha. ***** J&Z - How is Zack today? Feeling any better? ****** Double and Bri, i am so sorry for your alls name trouble. I had a hard enough time with the 1 name my kids have! haha. Though i was asked when Josh was born what his jewish name was going to be. I just looked confused and walked away. Apparently i have one that means beautiful, but i can't pronounce it. I figured being that he was being baptized i didn't pick a jewish name. Plus with a complete odd mix of religions in my family, we are just teaching them a bit of everything and letting them choose anyways. ( odd mixture being, jewish, lutheran, baptist and we go to a methodist church.).

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
margysd - I have another 10weeks until my second is born. I worry about those things too. My son is an angel but I worry that he won't understand sharing mom. He'll be 26months when his brother is born. There are a couple of ladies with little ones and their 23month olds. Hopefully they may have gone through it and can help you and me when/it all happens.

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
Ahhh Happy Birthday Katy! Ours isn't until the 4th. HAHA! My little young one. I am going to cry and cry and cry!! My little angel is just getting too big. I guess that goes for all of them. He's a little boy now, what happened to my baby?

margysd - Monday, 19 Oct
Hi, I just had my second daughter, Aislin on Thursday. My first daughter, Elsa is 16 months. Elsa and I have always had a strong and special bond. Since the birth, I have tried to involve and love Elsa as much as I can. I want to show her that I love her the same, I am just making some adjustments in our schedule which has changed because my time is now divided between her and our newborn. I have noticed some acting out on Elsa’s part and I am not sure how to handle it. We have tried to reassure Elsa how much she is loved and spend a lot of personal time with her one-on-one with both Paul and myself. I think she is acting out because she has realized that her position and role is changing, most notable is her new role as a big sister. I was wondering if any of you have had experience with adjustment issues with closely spaced siblings and what strategies you employed to maintain the bond with the oldest while introducing and bonding the with youngest sibling and if this is a normal adjustment phase that works itself out in time. Please post messages to my page. Thanks so much.

Bek 30 - Monday, 19 Oct
Happy birthday to Katy, Happy birthday to Katy, Happy birthday dear Katy, Happy birthday to you, hip hip hooray!!!! Have a lovely day my baby girl!!!~~~~~~~~~ Double: I have never been so scared in all my life...( even when my parents lost my son in the middle of Sydney for a couple of hours), everything flashed before me in a heartbeat...and I am so greatful to whoever her guardian angel is....love u angel!!!

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
At least you have a writen language to go by. You can research it. All the baby name sites that have Hawaiian names are messed up. We look them up and I'm told that isn't what it means. There is also no conjugation in Hawaiian language. The word for seat is the same for sit down, and so forth. It's a hard language and it gives me a headache just to think of it. Plus, being from the line that my husband is from we can't just name him Kimo or something like that. Kimo is translated to Jim. HAHA! There are several names that were made up when the settlers came to Hawaii. So you have all the Jims, Johns and so forth. His name has to be proper for the ruling class. Ok, so we've all heard of the cast system in the middle east and such. It's kind of like that. Status wise my husband's family doesn't go any higher. So even if I think something is pretty it isn't up to me. Which is what's pissing me off. I'm the mother for God's sake! Ugh! Pretty much I'm done. I know about fifty words in Hawaiian and that's it. I'm no help and honestly now that I got my stocking and decided that he'll be Alex to me I don't care. HAHA! My husband knows that this one will have a shorter name though. Kekoa's name is 31 letters long and has two hyphens and two apostraphes in it. I told him if I can't pronounce it without having to 'learn' it then it's a no go. HAHA!

doublemama - Monday, 19 Oct
bri im sorry for the name fight...we've been having similar issues. remember a cpl weeks back i was set on malek..well ppl from back home kept telling me no..but noone would tell me why. i happened to be on the fone with someone who asked what i wanna name and i said malek..she said oh, u do know that its regaurded the name of the angel that gaurds hell...i had no idea..im like well why didnt the people that were against the name just TELL me! she was like well its still the name of an angel, just thought u should know which one. arg...hence switching to the name zane. which again is causing issues with hubby. blah!

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
So I ordered the stockings again with Chris and Alex on them. Oh well, I wanted Christopher and Alexander but of course they will only do 8 letters...how lame! HAHA! At least it's done and one thing I don't have to worry about any longer. Now to get this child to turn and stay down.

Bri - Monday, 19 Oct
Tammy, I'm glad you are home. I hope the treatments work and he gets better soon.

Suzy, I'm sure you are right. I'm being a worry-wart over nothing. I need to just relax and see where he ends up in a couple of weeks. We'll see.

So this name thing is really killing me and ended in a HUGE fight last night. Joe ended up sleeping in another room. We started looking at names. We found ali'ikoa which we were both liked but it's hard. Names mean something and since the Hawaiian language was never supposed to be a written language there are things they say and it has no translation. Well, we both liked it. It has to do with the royal line, like Kekoa's. So, we called MIL to find out what she thinks and to help us add the rest on. She said NO. Joe was on the phone with her when she said it. No reason why but was told him it was a bad idea. I asked in the background several times. Bascially it would be a long story. I broke down into tears and so forth. I'm upset, why would she say no to something without an reason. Anyways, I feel lost and stuck. I feel as a mother I should be the one naming the child but I have no say. So Joe and I got into about it. How with English names we choose them because we like them. It's different with Hawaiian names, especially in their family and being one of the oldest lines. Grrr! Joe slept in another room last night and I told him that I'm getting Alex's stocking with his Christian name on it. I told him to inform me when he finally comes up with something and I won't ask again. So, it was another nasty sleepless night. My head is still aching but at least I don't have to worry about his Hawaiian name anymore. Actually I would love to call his mother and go off on the whole situation but of course I won't. I do love the lady and really this is the only bone of contension right now. I need to just get over it and enjoy this pregnancy. It would have been easier with a girl. I already have a name I like. I just would have had to make a phone call the Hawaii's DA. HAHA! It's her name and was my MIL's maid of honor. Oh well, hope you all had a good weekend. It's a blah Monday. But at least Joe has left for work and so there isn't the tension there right now. We'll see what tonight brings.

doublemama - Monday, 19 Oct
oh my, bek that must have been so scary!

Bek 30 - Monday, 19 Oct
3rd: Your claim to fame..lol, Was Gary a nice man? His hot on TV and I have only just recently started watching Stingers and he is so deranged in that show... but hopefully his character is nothing like him..hahaha. I thought he was only married to Johanna Griggs, and I only remember that cause I was thinking who could be so mean as to call their kids Joe Buster and Jesse James ( It was them wasn't it?) Jason would have slapped me down if I even suggested those names..hehehe~~~~~~~~~~ Ohh well better get going, gotta wrap Katies presents...she will be 2 when she wakes up...omg I wonder if the term ' another year older, another year wiser' applies to her?...lol. Ohh u know what she did today? Almost got ran over!!! We were at the hairdressers, she got down off my lap and asked to walk over to daddy, I said yes, she starts walking over to him, spins so quick, runs out the door to a main road with peak hour traffic, Jason got to her just as she put 1 foot on the road..the poor hairdressers just about cut Dylan's ear of with the clippers, and I just froze on the spot... OMFG she is so going on a harness now permanetly!!!!

doublemama - Sunday, 18 Oct
tammy, im glad hes on the way to feeling better from what it sounds like and that his levels are being closely monitored. the whole thing must have been so scary and draining for you. are they looking to figure out why he gets sick so easily with such intensity to perhaps try and prevent it?

bri..ever since your post ive been trying to kinda monitor my baby's moving, and i coulda sworn the kid has flipped, been sideways, and all sorts of positions since then. seems like there is time for him to move into position, and that maybe he just happened to be breech that day. lol in fact as i type this i feel what feels like feet kicking my pelvis...even though a couple hrs ago his feet felt like they were near my ribs. i figured (on my own intuition, not research) tons of walking will settle him into place, along with lots of squats (which i end up doing anyway to be able to pick up toys off the ground all day lol)

joeyandzacksmommy2007 - Sunday, 18 Oct
hi guys..thanks again luv for updating and everyone else for thoughts and prayers..i am going to invest in a laptop lol...anyway turns out that that 1st off zack was dehydrated and it threw off once again his numbers for his DI.. ur osmolalities are supposed to be 500 and they were only 14 and his bicards were 19...both ears were red and his tonsils were swollen. they sent him for an xray for his cough and turns out that there was a lil pnuemonia in his upper left lung...they repeated it and it then showed that teh pneumonia moved into his left lower lung and he had low air movememnt and also bronchitis in his upper lungs...today it is all over his lungs but air was only comprimised in the lower left lung...with aggressive treatment with the nebulizer it should heal well. i am just to watch his breathing and keep him in the house till wednesday when he has his checkup...he also has to see his endo doc asap....i was basically told that this may be a frequent thing for him....but i am tired i will talk more about it tomorrow just wanted to update....have a great night all xoxoxoxoxo luv u guys

Bri - Sunday, 18 Oct
I would normally want to deliver breeched but since I'm doing a VBAC it's a little more risky.

3rdtimer - Sunday, 18 Oct
Our old next-door neighbour delivered her first child breech. He'd be in his early 20s now. He came out fine but she did say it was pretty traumatic! But likewise, they didn't know until he was on the way out... or they didn't tell her! (FYI - Bec you will know who I'm talking about - that was Gary Sweet's first child. His ex-wife, well one of them haha, used to live next door to us, she was lovely.) Funny how no-one seems to consider breech births anymore. Maybe except homebirth midwives? I don't know if I'd personally want to try it but I would want to look into it I guess if it was an option. I have a friend who's had two successful manual turnings. Another friend who insisted her doctor try to turn her baby, it didn't work and she ended up with a caesar. Anyway, you have a while, and you have options. Let's hope he's on his way to turning now!

Bri - Sunday, 18 Oct
Thanks ladies. This morning I was feeling around and didn't feel anything 'hard' at the top...meaning the head. So hopefully something is working. Plus I'm starting to get all my kicks and such lower. Watch he's sideways. HAHA! I'm not sure if she would do a version because I've already had a section. I don't know what the strain on the scar would be? Did you know that no women has died from an VBAC thus far? I've been reading a lot and since the 'invention' on the bikini cut they have found that the scars are so much stronger then they thought. My doctor is very up to date on research so I would hope she would do one. She knows I'm strong willed too. I'll find someone else that would if she wouldn't. I think she'd hate to lose me as a patient at 37weeks if she wouldn't do it. HAHA! But, your right, he'll probably move. It's just worrisome. My middle sister was delivered breeched. Back then they didn't know. The lucky thing was my mom's normal doctor was in Hawaii and the doctor on call was a high risk specialist. Jamie delivered fine and was 10lbs. My mom never had any meds either.

luvbeingamom - Sunday, 18 Oct
Good Morning Ladies. Bri, i am sure double is right. the baby will turn. jake was breech up until 38 weeks and then turned. I even had a last min ultrasound (b/c of the impending induction) to make sure he turned at 39 weeks (induced 2 days later). I know you really want a vaginal birth this time. I hope it all goes well.

doublemama - Saturday, 17 Oct
bri, i think maryam was breech for a while and ended up turning. i went to a prenatal class that had us on our backs, with knees bent, then we hadda lift our pelvises off the floor..i felt him turn right then (this was pretty early on though) im sure you know more yoga stuff to try out. do you know if your doc would do a version if needed? i know my first doc wouldnt (but she prob woulda loved to just section me n get more $ and fit me into her sched better :P). anyway the statistic is on your side.

Bri - Saturday, 17 Oct
Thanks Suzy. I know that about 25% are breeched at this stage but only 3-4% will be at 35 weeks but it's still freakin' me out. Kekoa was never breeched and I never thought this one would be either. If he doesn't turn then there is no way of doing a VBAC which scares the hell out of me. I want the experience. I've felt bad and disappointed in myself for giving into the PUPPS and opting for a section. I don't want that. I want to have my natural birth and experience what most moms do. If I end up with another section then I know even if I have a third they would want me to do another because two sections means two scars. Ugh! I hope he turns. I keep feeling about to see where he is. I'm hoping that he'll turn by Friday since that's when I see my OB. Crossing my fingers! And, praying every night that he'll turn. It's causing too much anxiety. Oh well.

doublemama - Saturday, 17 Oct
november..im mamasuzy btw, i just switched it to doublemama now that ill have two :)...zane means beauty in arabic...it might sound like something that means fine as well, and yeah zeinideen zidan plays on the french team, or used to..thats another reason i dont want zeinideen cause i dont really wanna name my son after a sports figure lol..anyway alls going well with the pregnancy just that hes gotten into the habit of shoving me so hard he leaves bruises..makes me wonder how big he is, feels like theres already no more space yet there are still 2 more months to go!

bri...how awesome!! the whole experience sounds so amazing, and to top it off im glad u got to find out he's breech so u can have some time to do something about it :) i'll check out the pics right now

NovemberGift - Saturday, 17 Oct
Double, I like Zane, isnt that 'fine' in Arabic as well? In any case, Zinadeen sounds like that French football player's name. I still prefer the previous name u had though, cant remember it!

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