What Your 2 Year Old Should Know – Parenthood

The context: the 2 year old child

First, we need to set the context. The 2 year old almost always catches us off guard with his daring independence, determination and willpower,  so get ready! There is nothing slanderous about it when we talk about “the terrible 2 years”.

When they reach 2 years old, the hilarious and funny babies we had at home  have transformed into some kind of little monsters who only want their independence,  who defy our rules and sting huge anger if they are not. allowed to take on whatever adventures they think they are more than capable of.

So we have a 2 year old child, with few skills but full of enthusiasm and eager for new things. They want to be big, to do big things, and no one can stop them. So you have to grow up, as a mother, and understand that they have already won their personal space and that they are starting to make their own decisions. Respect them as much as you can, if you dominate the controlling character that there is in you, you will achieve it more easily. It’s time to grow up for you too, you are the mother of a 2 year old child!

Motor skills

• To be able to  walk  safely.
• Running showing dissociation between arms and legs (not like a robot or a block)
• Climb the stairs with support.
• Go down the stairs with a support (without alternating the two legs yet)
• Climb the climbing modules in the park (or the furniture of the house!)
• Launch off a small slide.
• Appreciate the movement of the swings.
• Turn on his feet.
• Kicking a ball.
• Throw a ball with his hands.
• Solve embedding games with pieces the size of the palm of your hand.
• Hold a thick felt pen or highlighter.
• Open and close the markers.
• Paint on large sheets (60 * 60)
• Trying to put on your shoes.
• Drink from a glass.
• Try to eat on your own with a teaspoon.
• Put small pieces in a container and be able to take them out (put seeds in a glass)

Cognitive skills

• Locate parts of his body (head, stomach, legs, nose, hands)
• Imitate actions of daily life such as: combing your hair, soaping yourself, putting on shoes, using cutlery, talking on the phone, going to “work”
• Recognize at least 4 animals by name.
• Respond to his first name when called.
• Start learning little songs or simple poems.
• Mimic movements and postures roughly.
• They begin to realize that they have soiled the diaper. Some manage to  control the sphincters  during the day during these two years.
• Being able to count 1,2,3.

Language development

• Increase your vocabulary  (each time more words and better articulated)
• Understand instructions like: sit down, get your shoes, give it to daddy, get in your car.
• Say “no” when he doesn’t want something.
• Use key words to communicate such as: give me, water, pacifier, mom, dad, more …
• Imitate the sounds of certain animals.
• Call family members by their first name.
• By the time they are approaching 3 years old, they should already be able to express themselves fluently in sentences of 4 words or more.

Social development

• They start to have “favorite people” that they prefer to be with.
• They have ritual games, which for example always scare dad.
• They easily learn “thank you” or funny behaviors that demand the attention of other people. For example “show me your eyes”, “who is the princess of the house?”.

• They don’t like to share their toys or their “favorite people”.
• They play alone but enjoy the company of other children by their side.
• They imitate older children, they want to be part of the big group.
• They ask for help when they need it.

Don’t tell him, but he’s still a baby!

This year, your 2 year old baby will cease to be and will become a  child,  it will be a year of  great transitions  for him and for you. At the end of those terrible two years, your big baby will turn into a little boy or a little girl, so enjoy every moment.

When he is 3 years old:

• He will speak with ease.
• He will have deserved his passage from the cradle to the bed.
• He will no longer drink the milk with the pacifier but from a spouted glass or a straw.
• He will only wear a diaper at night.
• Many are starting to take one nap per day instead of two.

It’s not nothing !