I think I've been spending too much time on Scary Mommy, because I feel like lately all I'm hearing about regarding toddlers are horror stories. Which make for much funnier articles, but it's kind of freaking me out! So help me out here- remind me of the positives of my baby not being a baby anymore soon!
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The sweetness is nice!! My kids are 4 and 6 now and they're not always as sweet as they were in their 2s and 3s.
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My son is 2, and he's hilarious. I love this age because he's still cuddly and almost a baby, but also more independent, learning so much, and the things he says and does make me laugh so hard every day.
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They learn a ton
Their personalities show more
They can do more interesting activities
They say hilarious things
Consolidated/eliminated naps
Regular meals
Sttn, for many
Getting out of diapers
Knowing why they're crying easier
More interested in other kids (2-3 more so)
No diaper bag
Cuter outfits (at least for girls, my boy is still a baby) IMO
More independence, little by little can help get dressed, brush teeth, put things away, etc
When they can say "I love you mama" and know what they're saying!
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I loved 2-2.5. I'm no going to comment on the current 2.5 stage we are in, but I also just had a new baby and totally rocked her world.
So, before this, it is so awesome watching her learn! I love that she can really talk and communicate what she is thinking and how she is making sense of the world. It's just amazing to see how much she learns every day. And she started playing with friends instead of near them which is cool to see. Plus she is a really snuggly girl which I love but hearing her say "I love you mommy"... Best ever.
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Oh, and they go through phases of being more and less challenging/throwing tantrums/whatever. It's not always that bad!
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My son will be 2 in two weeks. He is so freaking funny and good. I love it. He is a wild child but so nice and sweet. He keeps getting better and better.
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Toddlerhood is the best! My DD is almost 3 and she has her challenging ScaryMommy moments, but for me everything else makes up for it.
Watching her learn and then apply that knowledge to other situations
Being able to tell us that she loves us
Starting to have actual conversations
Plus everything everyone else said above. -
Everything single thing!!!! My favorite thing is his cute little voice and all the things he says.
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Watching her discover new things, new words laugh at life and show love!
When she walks up to me and gives me a hug and kiss and says "I ove Eww" I die
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The toddler years are when they go from a baby to a little person. Sure it means opinions and fighting, but it also means personality, joking, and fun! My guy turned two in December and it has been fun! Not always, but mostly! He's a riot. I love watching him emerge from babyhood!
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I find toddlerhood to be a mix of incredible stubbornness and incredible sweetness. It helps balance out the frustration and it is so cool seeing your LO start to really develop as a separate person.
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Omg I am loving toddlerhood! DDs personality is growing and she's just so helpful and sweet (most of the time!) it's so fun seeing her likes and dislikes emerge, watching her learn and showing all she is picking up on through watching her play pretend. We can communicate so much more now and actually play things together. I melt every time she tells me she loves me or that she missed me.
Sure, her behavior can be challenging at times and super frustrating. But, overall it's still way more fun then anything else.
I liked scary mommy a lot more before I had a kid. I find it really dramatic and obnoxious now.
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I am loving the 2 stage!! DS is communicating so well and just says cute and hilarious things daily. He is learning so much and growing independent... And the sweetness! I melt!
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DS is 18 months so kinda pretoddler but he was such a hard infant that I have only enjoyed him more and more since 6 months old. Sure we have our tough days and tantrums have been steadily increasing but he's such a funny little person and learning to do and say and express things. I actually can't wait for him to be older!
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Telling me how he loves me 'thiiiis much'
And generally saying funny & sweet things all day, every day, he is just the light of my life.
It has been so incredible watching this little being grow up into a mini man child! I love it.
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My LO is 21 mo and I am looooving toddlerhood. I would have ALL the babies if I could skip baby-hood and just have an 18 month old delivered to my doorstep.
Seeing her learn more and understand things is amazing. Seeing her have a sense of humor and a personality and complicated preferences is really fun. Things feel less dire (don't want to eat today? Whatevs you're a toddler you'll survive-- this felt much more important to me when she was a baby). Meals are pretty easy right now because she just eats what we eat. She's super sweet. Bedtime and naps and STTN are predictable (knock all the wood).
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He's so curious and alive!
Budding vocabulary, thought processes, sense of humor, all of it is fascinating to watch.
When he says I love you, which sounds like "uh wuvoo" it just melts my heart
Cuddles, the way he really appreciates treats and gifts, watching him learn, having him "help" in the kitchen and around the house, seeing his personality and preferences emerging, his pudgy little hands and feet, it's all adorable! -
I'm sure this just depends on the personality of the kiddo, but I have *loved* LO1's toddler years. Everything after age 1 has just gotten better and better.
I'm not sure what will happen with LO2, because I've enjoyed HER first 6 months so much more than I enjoyed it the first time. Maybe she'll be hell on wheels when she's a toddler, haha.
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DS is 3 this month and toddlerhood has been fun. Obviously there are challenging times.
Watching him learn and put concepts together. The bit more of independence and being able to do things himself. The imaginative play that has been emerging is just awesome, he makes up the wackiest games.
It is just overall fun.
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I have to say, so far the toddler years have been my favorite! My little guy has developed so much personality and it is so fun to see him figuring things out and making connections. Of course there are challenges, but I think the interactions are so much more rewarding!
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I'm really loving this age (2.5). We can have conversations and she is just so sweet. It keeps getting better and better IMO.
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Seeing his imagination develop is amazing. He's so creative with his stories and the scenes has building in his head!
Hearing his vocabulary continue to grow just astounds me. I swear I think every day he says something that makes Hubs and I look at each other and go, "Huh?"
He's hilarious. Kids really will say the darndest things.
He's sweet. So loving. He puts his hands on my face and tells me he loves me or that I'm his best friend... I melt.
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I HATED scary mommy When my son was 18 months and younger. Now? He will be four in May and I think it's freaking hilarious.
I won't lie. Toddler/preschooler aged kids bring the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. But, the good does out weigh the bad and there is NOTHING like when your child tells you they love you for the first time. -
I love, love, love hearing what comes out of her mouth. She's got this incredible, straightforward logic that just KILLS me. She's also a prankster and a daredevil, which terrifies me sometimes but is also hilarious. She loves to bake with me, which is fun. And being on one nap is awesome. Tantrums suck, but I kind of want to keep her at this stage forever in spite of that.
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DD is 2.5 and not without her challenges. But I love her inquisitive nature, her wild sense of humor, her kick ass bravery and the way in which she expresses uncensored joy over the simplest of things. I feel we should all aspire to know happiness like a toddler.
And there's literally nothing better than your kid holding your face between their palms and telling you that you're their beautiful best friend. We snuggle on rainy days, talk about all the things in the world that come in our favorite colors, have legit inside jokes; she's really just my main gal.
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Every day is better. Seeing her personality develop, finally starting to play by herself, having conversations, and nothing is better each time she tells me I love you! Or I like you. Or Mommy, you are my best friend/best buddy.
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My LO is very stubborn (almost 3) and while it can be really frustrating, it's also really funny sometimes. I love that he has his own personality, his own preferences, and that he can communicate pretty well. He will grab my face and kiss each cheek and say "I love you mama!" and sometimes that's followed up by him asking for something I've already said no to, which I find to be hilarious. He's got an interesting take on things and tells us really funny stuff, like how Daddy goes to the beach while Mommy is at work.
I will say the Scary Mommy is pretty accurate at times and I love it because it reminds me to laugh at the insanity of it all.
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As crazy as the toddler years are I actually like each phase better and better. With the tantrums and just being difficult in general there are definitely new challenges but overall he keeps getting easier and more fun. He can do more on his own every day and it is way more rewarding to actually hear from him directly how much fun he's having.
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Every single thing. Toddlerhood blows babyhood out of the water by a long shot. And we've managed to avoid most of the horror stories so they are not necessarily "will happens"
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We're at the early end of the toddler stage (LO is just under 18 months) but I am freaken loving it. So much more fun than baby year. She's hilarious - learning to be silly and joke with us. She communicates (not terribly verbal because of temporary hearing stuff but still says some words and lets us know clearly what she wants.
She's starting to develop specific interests. She loves colouring, building blocks and her toy sheep. She is starting to do symbolic/imaginitive play - eating pretend food, putting her teddies to bed etc. It is so cool to watch. She dances and explores everything.
Yes, there are tantrums, but to cool stuff 10000x outweighs tantrum stuff.
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I vastly prefer having a toddler to having a baby! Parenthood has taught me that I prefer to live with people who speak English.
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I actually prefer the toddler years! Yes parenting a toddler has its challenges, but they're so cute and SO MUCH FUN! And there's so much more you can do with them. I wish I could bottle these years up because I'm not looking forward to pre-teen/teenage years.
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Thank you all for the responses! Just what I needed! Now I'm kind of excited to see what's next.
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I just feel like everything just keeps getting better and better. DD is 2.5 and she is just a hilarious ball of fun. Her language is amazing and she says the most outrageous stuff. I love that she has a longer attention span now and that we can sit and do puzzles and play board games. I love doing activities with her like dance class and we are starting soccer soon. She is just so excited about every new experience these days. I also like how she can be independent and play with her toys on her own so I can get some work done or make dinner. I honestly love her age so much.
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I was really, really worried about "losing" my baby after she turned one. It turns out I needn't have, because this year has been awesome. Toddlers are super fun, even though they are also completely insane. Embrace the chaos, and it's great. Or, when it's not, there's always wine-and usually a good story later.
Some things I love about toddlerhood, at 23 months:
-I love seeing the way her little mind works. She makes so many connections, and she's funny. She picks up on words we say, things we say to each other, and she translates them from situation to situation. For example, owls are her favorite, and the other day, DH had a shirt with an owl logo on it. She yelled, "owl shirt!" and it took us a minute to figure out what she was saying. We've never told her that was an owl before!
-Toddlers can be helpful (they can also be "helpful," fair warning). She can get her own diapers and wipes now, and she'll tell us when she's poopy. Downside: it takes forever to do things when she doesn't want to cooperate, so we try to find a way to let her do as much as possible as often as possible.
-She can entertain herself for a bit now. She's getting really good at imaginative play. She wants to put her baby to bed, read baby a story, give baby a paci, rub baby's back, etc. She'll read books on her own (for like 15 seconds, but still), and she'll actually sit and watch a show if I need a break.
-Toddlers like routine. We never really found our rhythm as an infant or baby, but things are much more predictable with a toddler. Nap is somewhere between 12:30 or 1:00 and goes until 3:00. She is up for the day around 7:15, at which point she is always "eat, hungry." Bedtime is 8:30, give or take. We're more bound to a schedule than we've been, but when we stick to it, she's a really happy girl.
-You can do more fun things! She wants us to tickle her to make her belly laugh, she loves to run, and slide, and help at the grocery store, and go outside. It's exhausting, but it's fun.
-Everything is new and exciting. Watching her in the snow was so fun, and she has such wide eyes, taking everything in. It brings us such joy to watch.
I'm smiling, because that was really long and kinda gushy. It was also super helpful to write out, because last night, I was at my wit's end with her. But today, I can't get enough. That's why they make 'em cute-so we don't leave 'em in the woods somewhere
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@Mae: yes to all of this. I would like a toddler gift-wrapped to me and sent right around 14 months. When they were cute and sweet, that was nice, but man, was it HARD.
Also, I'm laughing at your eating comment. G's eating has been so much more unpredictable lately, but I'm like, whatever. You ate at school, you'll tell me if you're hungry. You don't want to eat? Fine, I'm not going to force you.
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I love toddlerhood so much. My LO is almost 2.5 years. She surprises me with new words and sayings every day. She can tell me what's wrong with words instead of just crying. She is starting to develop her own likes and dislikes, and they are not always what we expect, which is fascinating. She's goofy and fun and she's always making me and DH laugh out loud. She has a decent attention span, can sit through a whole movie (granted, it's always Frozen), and loves pretty much anything that involves going somewhere (including grocery shopping, eating at restaurants, or making a Target run). She has a steady routine, she has been sleeping through the night for ages now, and she still naps so we get a break in the day. And she's still super cuddly and sweet to us.
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Mine is only 18 months (in 5 days) but we are heading into the tantrum territory. That said, even if he had one monster tantrum every day it would still be way more enjoyable for me than his more chill baby days. I'm not much of a baby person (I've learned) but from 12 months it's like a switch has been flipped. Obviously I've always loved him and felt he was the cutest baby on the planet. But at 12 months it was like "wow you are becoming a little person". And every week and month since then has been amaaaaazing. I finally understand why people have more than 1 kid
He is making leaps and bounds every week with vocabulary and expression. Even his physical movement, seeing him experiment different funny ways to walk or mastering climbing the couch like its no big deal.
He just started "pretending" to fall and say "woaaaah" in a really theatrical way. Stuff like that, where I can see that he has a sense of humor and imagination, is what just makes my heart explode. We can finally do things like go to the zoo and he knows the animals and enjoys it. We can push our luck with naps and bedtime a little more so it all feels more flexible and like we finally have some freedom back. I've been waiting for this stage for so long and it's surreal that it's finally here. I can't wait till we have full conversations and I can take him to fun outings and a missed nap isn't a concern.
During the first year I wasn't so sure about this parenting thing. Again, I loved him, but I am not a baby person and I am rather short sighted. It's hard for me to see past the hard times and keep my eye on the prize. But now, I can TRULY say that I love being a mom and it's totally worth it. I love being home with him and I feel so blessed that this is my life.
So for me, this is a huge endorsement for toddlerdom. I'll let you know if it changes when we hit 2 and 3 -
The creative language! Today we got 'under legs' (back of knees/calves) and 'french fry nugget' (tater tot).
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