Hoping you have thrown your kid a great birthday. Are you ready to take on the second year of your parenthood? Well, get ready because you are in for a fun ride. You must have really got a great kick out of the first year and then the second year as well. Now, as a 2 year old baby is a lot simpler to be handled than a younger one. There is a lot you can do to ease your time and energy on various things and spend wisely on them. The aspects of diet, development, etc are even more important now, and more than that is your presence. Nothing is worth it if you are not having time with your baby.
Developmental Milestones for 2-Year-Old Baby:
1. Feeding Your Baby:
With the growing of age and passing of time, your two year old baby is becoming more and more independent. This means that you will be facing a lot of rejection and be turned down more than often. It is a common aspect of every two year old, and you will face a stage where they will become fussy about it.
Now, there are ways you can ease it out for yourself and your baby. You can try having meals together as a family and try and eat the same food as your baby and make it fun for him. Making the mealtimes enjoyable will drive away the fuzziness altogether and having constant meal timings will help it even more. But no matter what, do not force your child and stuff his mouth with food. Make sure you never plead or bribe him as it may become a sort of habit and expectation. Do not try and offer something else when they do not eat. That will just make it convenient for them. Most importantly, do not worry if your meal time is not going as well as you have planned it.
2. Your Baby’s Weight:
Usually, under normal circumstances, your child should be weighing somewhere between 22 to 32 pounds. In the case of a girl and in the case of a boy, he should be weighing between 23 to 34 pounds. However, do not panic if your two year old baby is more or less than those figures. Although, your 2 year old baby development is directly linked to food intake and activities as well. Do not let him/her laze around. In fact, get up and run around with your child and lose a few pounds and keep yourself healthy as well.
3. Nap Time:
Your baby needs an average of 12 hours of sleep within the 24 hours you have. It is alright if you are facing issues. Where they are not ready to sleep and keep pushing off nap time at night. It is quite common. There are various reasons why they resist their nap time. However, one good way of ensuring your baby sleeps on time is by increasing your 2 year old baby’s activities during the course of the day.
Have you noticed that we as adults sleep like babies when we are all tired from work? Well, same with the kids. Although they have higher energy levels than compared to us, give them enough activities and in fact, do them with him/her and they will sleep like sweet little pies at night. Apart from that, you can try and give them a bunny to hold onto with a fascinating bedtime story and that can be made a habit for a while and will also give you some special time with your baby.
4. Two Years Old Baby Development:
Your two year old baby is now developing his/her motor skills and will be able to balance themselves and jump and climb a staircase by using maybe a foot or two as well. She will be able to scribble all over your walls and put on some graffiti for you, and you need to make sure that you do not miss out on that piece of art. As a matter of fact, you need to preserve her first piece of art forever. Whether it is on a wall or a piece of paper or your face.
You will be able to figure out if he/she is a lefty or a righty by the preference of their hand. They will also be able to feed themselves better, and that does not mean there will be no mess. There is always going to be a mess when they eat. So, watch her eat all of that up and then clean up after your adorable little one.
5. Food & Toys:
Taking care of your child’s development is by making sure you are providing them with the right amount of nutrition and making sure it is being consumed as a balanced diet.
Also, make sure they have more number of toys which are not complex. Simple toys in their hands will show you what those adorable hands are capable of. Wait and watch.
6. Milestones You Need To Watch Out For:
By this age, you will find them capable of doing all the 2 year old baby activities, and you will find them doing most of it on their own. They establish their independence and will be able to stand on their own and pick up objects as well. The most adorable part of this age is when they start to try and talk and make you understand their needs and wants through gestures and a few words they might have learnt. You will also find them coming up to you and initiating games as such for you to play with them. Also, you will now be able to run after them and also have them run after you with ease. If all this isn’t worth it, what is?
The number of things a two year old baby can do will shock and amaze you. But do not ever think that they will ever stop needing you. Watching them become independent of the smallest things might make you think that it is ok if you are not there all the time to have supervision, but kids are always dependent on the parents to be guided and always will be.