Appointments and activities – What's coming up in the 21st month?

• U7: Between the 21st and 24th months of life, the next check-up, U7, is due. Almost a year has passed since the last examination – your child has learned a lot and continued to develop. At the U7, the pediatrician assesses your child's physical development, speech and hearing development, and motor skills. A new addition is the assessment of social behavior.

• Vaccination: If you have decided to vaccinate your child, any missed or postponed vaccination appointments can now be caught up.

• Obstacle course: Toddlers love to climb. Turn the living room or child’s room into an obstacle course. With mattresses, bouncy cushions and play and gym mats the room can be turned into an adventure playground with just a few simple adjustments – a great bad-weather idea!

Important developmental milestones in the 21st month

• Throwing balls: Handling the ball becomes increasingly coordinated. Balls can now be thrown by most children deliberately in a specific direction.

• Self-confidence: Toddlers gain more and more self-confidence. Their individual personality traits become increasingly apparent. If their own wishes are not fulfilled, tantrums can occur from time to time.

• Tantrums: They still occur, but less often. As toddlers can now express themselves better, tantrums become less frequent or no longer escalate as severely.

• Walking: Many toddlers love to pull or push objects. Vacuum cleaners and brooms are popular playthings.

• Hopping: Motor skills and sense of balance are now developed to the point that many children not only walk steadily but also hop and jump can.

• Imitation: Now caution is advised – many children begin to repeat individual words, snippets of words, or short sentences. Especially the last words of a sentence are often repeated. Parents should therefore pay more attention to what they say.

Image credits

young siblings are arguing after playing in the room in the house © Kirill Gorlov - stock.adobe.com