By Lea Saguisag Jusi

Rafael loves his toy cars. He loves pushing them about, pretending they’re in a race, lining them up and counting them 1, 2, 3. Suddenly, he starts throwing his cars mercilessly onto the floor.

My 27-month-old son is a Toddler Two all right, complete with the boundless energy, insatiable curiosity and escalating temper of most two-year-olds. Many times I wonder just what is happening with my little toddler.


PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

• He is active and enjoys spending a lot of time practicing and mastering the important skills of jumping, running, turning around, kicking a ball, climbing a stairway or ladder, throwing and retrieving all kinds and sizes of objects.
• Although balance and coordination are improving, he still has some difficulty pedaling and maneuvering a tricycle or pushing and balancing himself on a swing.
• His fine motor skills are improving. He can turn the pages of a book one at a time, build a tower of about 6 blocks, hold a pencil or crayon quite well.
• He may start showing a preference for using one hand over the other.
• He shows more interest and dexterity at the dinner table. He can securely hold a glass or cup with one or two hands and can handle a spoon and put it in his mouth.
  

MENTAL AND LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT

• He is learning about the properties and behaviors of things around him and how he can control them. Because he doesn’t yet understand how many things work and behave, he is more vulnerable to accidents and frustrations. For example, he hangs on to a wheeled chair for support, not knowing that it will slide and let him fall.
• Although attention span is still short, his memory is improving. He looks for missing toys. He knows that you always read his favorite book to him after his evening bath.
• At this age, your toddler may be using only a few intelligible words while another child may be talking with many different words and sounds. This wide variation is normal at this age.
• Words that name persons, things and actions are more pronounced, e.g. “John, apple, play.” Adverbs, adjectives and prepositions seem less important.
• He prefers using personal names to pronouns, e.g. saying “John eats bread” rather than “I eat bread”.
• He enjoys combining his expanding motor and vocal skills; accompanies actions with language, e.g. saying “sit down” while sitting down and “get car” while reaching for his toy car.
• He is beginning to understand the number concept of ordination (one, two, three, four, etc.) and the process of classification (“I am a boy”).
  

EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

• He wants to be independent, but he also experiences separation anxiety.
• He is testing his limits. If you let him do whatever he wants to, you will likely end up with a child who is constantly testing his limits with you and with everyone else. Setting reasonable limits for your child will give him a more secure and caring environment.
• He has difficulty making choices. If you offer him three different courses at the dinner table, he may end up refusing everything or dumping all of them on the floor.
• He is still unable to make correct judgments regarding safety. Parental supervision is vital because toddlers are better able to control their bodies but still unable to comprehend the dangers around them. They can easily wander to a nearby carpark or intersection and not know why or how to avoid traffic.
• He can throw a temper tantrum as a way to argue back or express frustration. A child who throws temper tantrums is usually a very lively and active child who knows what he wants to do and minds very much when someone or something prevents him.
• With his developing imagination come a variety of fears. He can develop a fear of heights, of the dark, of the vacuum cleaner, or all of the above.
  

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• Although ready for social experiences, your toddler’s interactions with same-age children are usually awkward. He may be friendly enough, but is not yet able to express himself. He may hug another child and because of his strong emotion may end up knocking the other child down or hurting him.
• Hitting and biting are common in the early stages of social learning.
• He needs to learn how to defend himself as much as he needs to be restrained from fighting.
• Parents are still the most important people and the biggest influence in his life.
• Siblings play a major role in your toddler’s social learning. Through his interactions with his siblings, he learns how to express love and anger, how to recover from anger, how to treat others properly.