MEGA List: Toddlerhood Edition

If you've found this Toddlerhood Edition, you've survived the first year of parenthood and are saying good-bye to the precious newness and those really long and hard nights. You did it!

Bear with me as I go on a tangent from my recommendations; this advocacy component is important to me.

You will know what is "normal" for your child and your family as your child exits the baby stage and becomes a walking, talking, little person with big feelings. Trust your instincts. If you think something is off or if anything is a concern for you, bring it up with your pediatrician. If you still have a nagging feeling or feel like you were brushed off, keep going until you no longer have that feeling.

On a personal note, it's at this stage that I pushed beyond our pediatrician - after bringing up the same concern visit after visit on something I noticed a few days after birth - and eight months later, we had a rare disease diagnosis after seeing a specialist. That specialist handed me a single-page print out about the condition and said to get a set of EPI Pens. Needless to say, we found a new pediatrician and a new specialist.

Do not ignore your instincts or let a stranger on social media diagnose your child, but at the same time, kids are weird - in the best way. They are little wonders and also the source of so much confusion. They are climbing onto your countertops or opening child-proof medicine bottles, forming friendships, and learn to talk! What takes one child one minute might take your friend's toddler (or even your next child) three.

The Toddlerhood Edition is noticeably shorter than the list for preparing for newborns. Toddlers need the basics, similar to what is on the Newborn Edition: food, clothing, a safe place to sleep, and your love and attention. All the rest are tools to keep them fed and entertained -- definitely less gadgets needed to survive toddlerhood but you'll still be frequent visitors to Urgent Care or your peds office.

Keep it simple and this will also help tame what's coming into your home!

Feeding

• Grape/Tomato/Blueberry Cutter

• Sippy Cups

• Sippy Bottles (Dr. Browns)

• Utensils - Whatever you choose, and if you have a sibling set, save yourself a tantrum by getting all the same color or better yet, use ones that look like adult silverware. Same for open cups....

• Water Bottle - I would skip any branded or character cups unless you want to purchase duplicates. Inevitably, one will crack in the wash or be left at the play ground and thereafter, you may experience your first toddler tantrum.

• Junior Knives Montessori Style

Toys & Entertainment

• Busy Book - Our youngest is obsessed with this busy book, especially the buckles and snaps. A great quiet activity for plane travel, restaurants, car travel.

• Water Sink - Could you use a bowl? Sure. But there's something about it being a mini-kitchen sink with running water that keeps them focused.

• Flower Garden - Another open-ended play that both sons & daughter have enjoyed (me, too, as an adult).

• Magnetic Tiles - Endless options for creativity and open-ended play.

• Cars/Dinosaurs/Animal Figurines

• Train Sets

• Sand / Sensory Box (avoid water beads)

• Books & more books -- The "Never Touch a..." series was and still is a big hit from 1-3+ years. See my recommendations for Little Bookworms (on the home page).

• Puzzles & more puzzles

Toilet Training

We've had the mini-toilet that flushes (it is cute!) and we've had the bowl-type ones. This round, we've been using one with a ladder attached. I should have started there, but you know, we potty-trained our oldest in an isolated rental house during the pandemic so we didn't have the same access to big box stores or Prime shipping that we have now in the suburbs. Live and learn.

My recommendation to skip the mini-toilet is because some kids (ahem, one of ours) end up preferring and only using that and then has a hard time transitioning to a full-size toilet.

This travel one has been great for road trips, errand-running, restaurants and even at outdoor events or playgrounds where there's no toilet in sight or for using on a full-size toilet to alleviate that 'fear of falling in'.

Shoes

• Sizing Tool. Must have. Their feet grow SO quickly. One day, their shoes will fit just fine and the next, you can barely get them on. This tool brings back my memories of back to school shopping at Payless Shoe Stores (IYKYK). If you experienced shifting sizes during pregnant and post-partum like I have, there's an adult sizer, too.

Shoe Sizer

Baby Proofing

I don't have specific recommendations because it depends on your home and your furnishings, and your personal comfort level. Outlets, stairs, table edges, flower vases, drawers, under-sink-cabinets, bookshelves, swimming pools, hot tubs, and the like are all new and exciting finds for a toddler but they can quickly become unsafe so prepare before you think you need to. Toddler grow quickly and they move ever faster! Be sure to follow installation instructions for dressers, bookshelves, etc. and secure those to the wall.