Rowan's Development at 29-30 Months - Window into my world

Your 29- to 30-month-old

Two-year-olds come with plenty of parenting challenges. Sharing is tough, while whining seems to come naturally. But as frustrating as your 2-year-old can be, man, does he crack you up.

Share? No way!
Your 2-year-old now: Tussles over a toy happen often when two preschoolers are at play. They can be fiercely protective of their possessions, and sharing is a skill that won't come naturally to your child for another year or two. In the meantime, help him learn: • Model sharing and use the word "share": "Would you like to share my cookie?"....read more

Dealing with rigidity
"Again! Again!" The Teletubbies have this mantra for a reason: A hallmark of this age is repetition. Your little one may want to eat the same things again and again, wear the same clothes day after day, or do things in the exact same order. Remember that he's trying to make sense of the world, and keeping certain things unvarying is his way of exercising a little control....read more

Let's get verbal
What can a 2-year-old remember? More and more every day! He's developing a way of thinking called spatial representation or symbolic thinking. Basically it means he can see things in his mind's eye. As experience and habit create new connections in his brain, he becomes better able to call up these captured images: what a lost teddy looks like, the way to Grandma's house,....read more

Whinebusters
Have you noticed a new sound in the house — an annoying, grating sound coming from your child's mouth? Whining is to a semiverbal 2-year-old what crying is to a nonverbal baby — it's a way of expressing frustration and impatience. Often preschoolers don't even realize they're whining. That's just how their emotions come out. Whining can quickly escalate into an irritating habit,....read more

Why regression happens
If only all development happened in a straight line! For all your child's progress, she'll slide a bit backward every now and then. For example, someone who's been sleeping soundly through the night (finally!) for months begins popping up in your bed at 3 a.m. A pacifier is dug up and latched on to. Or a child who was potty-trained early suddenly has a rash of accidents....read more

Naked planet
Your preschooler has an incredible eye and ear for details. Because he's learning about so many new things and experiences, he's attuned to sounds, colors, relative sizes, and movements that you probably tune out. Don't be surprised to hear him referring to "the clock that ticks" or "the mailman's blue hat."....read more

Comedy, preschooler style
Some of the things preschoolers say are quite charming and unintentionally funny. They often blend two words to come up with a creative new one: prettyful, wonderfulous. They also mishear, mispronounce, and misremember words, inadvertently creating new ones that sometimes stick around a family for years: "ungabrella" for "umbrella" or "tummy button."....read more

It's you, mommy!
You'll soon be noticing some changes in those scribbles. When a toddler first learns to make a mark on paper (around 12 to 15 months), it's all he can do to grasp the crayon — he used his whole fist to hang onto it. He progresses to being able to make straight lines and random squiggles, with most of the motion coming from his wrist....read more