Pregnancy
18-24 Months: It's About Trust -- Milestones
1. Seeks the support of familiar adults to try things.
Toddlers depend on having the adults who are important to them in view while they are playing, exploring, and trying new activities. Although their increased mobility allows them to explore more actively and do more things independently, they need to be close to the adults who are important to them so that they can feel secure about moving away. For example:
Developing as expected, they might:
- start moving toward the room where the toys are kept, but come back to a familiar adult several times before finally entering the room
- explore the water table while their mother is sitting nearby, but stop playing, protest loudly, and follow her when she moves toward the door to leave
- pull the face of a caregiver toward them when he or she begins to talk to someone else
- want to eat the food from their caregiver's plate
- bring toys to a familiar person and pile them on his or her lap
- cry when they cannot have their caregiver all to themselves
- hand a piece of their cookie to a familiar person sitting nearby
- try the slide at the park after sitting beside their caregiver for a while and watching the other children shriek with joy as they slide down
- refuse to try any of the swings or the slide, even though they had been begging to go to the park earlier
- refuse to leave the side of their caregiver or parent, even to play with toys that are clearly interesting to them
- pull their caregiver along while looking at the books on the bookshelf
- cry loudly when their caregiver or teacher can't sit with them at the table
- keep asking for a drink of water or for something else to keep you from leaving them
2. Acts cautiously around unfamiliar adults.
Some toddlers are fascinated by new people and things, while others are cautious and tentative. Depending on how often they've encountered new people and on the way in which familiar people have responded to new people, their reactions may include curiosity and interest as well as wariness or fear. Toddlers may interrupt their play to seek safe shelter with a familiar adult when a stranger appears, or they may just stop and watch, ask questions, or even approach the new person. Toddlers might be slowly drawn into interacting with a new person who offers an interesting object to explore or who is in the company of a well-known adult. For example:
Developing as expected, they might:- cautiously watch a familiar adult talk to the new person, then slowly walk over and say hello
- show their new shoes to the visitor in the classroom, while their teacher stands beside them and holds their hand
- say hello to the person handing out shopping carts near the door of the supermarket
- go over to the person planting flowers in her yard to see what she is doing
- act shy at a party and hold their parent's hand for a long time before going over to a group of children who are using markers to decorate the paper tablecloth
- say hello to the delivery person who is waiting at the door
- allow themselves to be drawn into play with a new adult, as long as a familiar person is nearby
- watch the plumber fixing the kitchen sink, but not speak to him
- keep one eye on the stranger and not respond to any friendly overtures the new person makes
Needing development, they might:
- not look toward a new person who enters the room
- cry when a new person looks at them
- rush up to a new person and ask for help in reaching for something on a shelf
- greet the new adult before anyone else and show him or her the hamster cage
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