TODDLER DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES

What they can do… WALKING Most babies start walking around their first birthday and master it over the next three to four months. But don’t worry if your child isn’t there yet, it’s not uncommon, especially if they were a late crawler. As soon as your baby started pulling themselves up on the furniture you moved all those breakable objects up an extra couple of feet. With their legs braced far apart, your babies’ first attempts at walking are more a shuffle from side to side. As they perfect their walk, babies will most likely hold on with one hand and move from one hand hold to another. Gradually they build up speed and confidence until you are wishing for the old days when they couldn’t even roll over. But now they are more upright they have to learn how to get back down to the floor. To start it happens regularly and involuntary. As they perfect their walk and are not falling as often, they learn to bend their knees to a more deliberate sit or kneel. RUNNING About 6 months after starting to walk most children can run a couple of meters. Their stance has changed, they have lost the waddle and they are learning how to push start with their feet. It is not a very controlled run – watching their feet, they have trouble getting around obstacles and stopping, but over the next six months they will perfect it. STAIRS While your child insists on crawling up the stairs you will be constantly working on their decent – reminding them to turn around and go down backwards. The same goes for when they start walking up the stairs. They will probably need to hold on going up but crawl down backwards. At two years the majority of toddlers will be steady on their feet going up and down. As the steps are rather big for short legs, your toddler will probably hold on to the handrail and put both feet on each stair before moving to the next. JUMPING As soon as they master the stairs you can be sure they want to jump off them. It is more difficult than running but therapists would expect a child to master a simple jump into the air between two and two and a half years. To jump we rise up on our toes but children need to develop this skill. Try encouraging them to reach up for items. Once on their toes they need to bend their knees then quickly straighten them and push off. The skill of jumping can be developed by practicing on a trampoline or other springy surfaces (a bed mattress?!). HOPPING AND SKIPPING Hopping and skipping requires a combination of balance and the ability to transfer weight from one leg to another. To hop a child needs the power in one leg to bounce and to be able to transfer her weight to one side and still keep balance. The single hop is typically mastered at around three and a half years and skipping quickly follows. PEDALLING Pedaling their trice starts with having the balance to get their leg over then it becomes a matter of co-ordination. This usually becomes possible when your child is around three years. If they have had a ride-on before the trice they get a head start. CATCHING A BIG BALL Your child’s co-ordination is improving and at around three years old helps your child to catch a ball. They will typically have their arms straight out and wrap the ball up when it lands in their arms. The following year they will start to move around to catch the ball. They will also use more of their hands rather than their arms to catch the ball. GETTING DRESSED At every milestone they are gaining independence. Dressing themselves is just one more step. They have been able to put arms through the holes for some time but doing up zippers and buttons requires fine motor skills. They will start to achieve this at about four years and by five years move on to tying their laces.