This is the final installment of a series of articles about my son’s growth and development at different ages: 19-month old, 20-month old, and 23-month old.
By the time K reached 24 months, he’s like a grown-up. He can talk, express his feelings, and even quarrel!
As I said before, this list is written not to compare but as a record for me. I am waiting for the day – when K can read – to arrive and I want to show him this list.
Here’s a list of what my son can do as a 2-year old:
- 2 or 3-syllable words and short sentences. He used to say only one-syllable words. But now he’s improved. For example: “Mommy come home.” “My shoes.” “Yogurt drink” (his favorite drink!).
- Fighting back. When he doesn’t like you, he’ll fight back – physically. He will pinch or punch.
- Imitating. At this stage, K is very good at copying someone’s behavior, acts, or expressions – both good and bad.
- Drinking on his own. He now knows how to drink by himself. He can control the volume of water that goes into his mouth without choking.
- Recognizing people around him. He can differentiate close family members. He can group them by family and occasionally he calls out their names – one by one.
- Stating preferences. He is able to choose which pair of shoes or clothes to wear. Sometimes when we eat out, he’ll suggest, “Eat McDonald’s.”
- Possession. He now learns the meaning of ownership. For example: “My cup.”
- Learns once, remembers forever. After he tasted iced water for the first time, the next thing you know is when you serve him water later, he asks for ice.
- Knowing the next course of action. Toddlers learn fast. Once I cleared my throat, he said to me, “Daddy, washing.” By referring me to wash my mouth.
- Reading after me. He can read out loud a simple book after me. It’s kinda cute to hear him read.
- Start socializing. It happened twice. K asked us to bring him to visit his auntie who lives nearby. He said, “Go auntie’s house.”
- Number of teeth: 14. I must say his teething process is relatively slow. I used to worry about this before. But hey, it’s almost there, 6 to go.
- “What is this?”. When K wants to find out more about certain things, this is what he’s going to ask – including stuff that he already knows. As they say he just wants to test how much you know.
- “Don’t know.” Just recently he discovers the magic of this sentence. It’s handy when he wants to brush things off or when he doesn’t feel like answering your questions.
No doubt when kids reach year 2, they are more manageable. But other problems crop up like temper tantrums and seeking independence. They are able to do more adventurous activities.
Speaking of independence… My wife and I have learned the art of giving K full freedom to do what he wants to do without the need to worry about messing things up. K now wants to do almost everything by himself. Such as eating, drinking (including pouring the water into a cup), bathing, washing dishes, taking his pajamas, brushing teeth, and many other things.
As long as the activities are not dangerous, we will let him do whatever he wants to do to his satisfaction. (Sooner or later, the boy will be bored and do something else.)
Perfection doesn’t help here. Cleaning up the mess after his act is part of the process. I’d rather let him express himself than worrying about the mess he’s going to create.
Don’t you think?
