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A 30 month old child is full of surprises and humor. Reasoning with him may not be as much fun! After all, he views everything in simple terms. He still often confuses fantasy with reality unless he’s actively playing make-believe. Be sure to choose your words carefully: Comments that you think are funny or playful—such as “If you eat more cereal, you’ll explode”—actually may panic him, since he won’t know you’re joking.
The major intellectual limitation at this age is a toddler's feeling that everything that happens in his world is the result of something he has done. With a belief like this, it becomes very difficult for him to understand concepts as death, divorce, or illness, without feeling that he played some role in it. So if parents separate or a family member gets sick, children often feel responsible. It is important to understand this as life events occur.
Pre-Visit Questionnaires
Please complete the following forms before the visit and upload to the portal as able.
Recommended Tests
It is recommended that your child be tested for anemia. Anemia is most commonly due to iron deficiency and if present can impact cognitive development.
Hemoglobin from a fingerprick
Visit Handouts
These are the handouts that you will be given at the 30 month old check up.
Vaccinations for this visit
○ Seasonal influenza vaccine
Potential School Forms
○ Virginia School Health Forms
Typical Milestones & Activity
Sleep
Bedtime is often a challenging part of managing your toddler. Children will often resist going to sleep , especially if there is an older sibling still up. We have outlined some steps that can be taken to minimize conflict and improve sleep hygiene in your household.
Set up a quiet routine before bedtime. This will help your child understand the transition to sleep. To help ease into sleep, this is a splendid time to read a story, listen to quiet music, or even have a bath. Now is not the time to "rough house" or for vigorous play.
Be consistent. The bedtime should be identical every evening without fail. This repetition sets clear expectations and healthy habits.
Let your child take a favorite object to bed each night such as a teddy bear, special blanket, or favorite toy. These objects are especially helpful should a child wake up during the night. Make sure your child is comfortable. He may like to have a drink of water, a light left on, or the door left slightly open.
Whatever you do, do not let your child sleep in your bed! This will make falling asleep alone that much harder.Do not return to your child's room every time the he calls out with a complaint. Wait several seconds before answering and extend your time to respond each additional time. This provides an opportunity for the child to fall asleep alone.
Reassure him you are there. If you need to go into the room, do not turn on the lights, play with him, and minimize what you say. Remind him each time that it is time to go to sleep.
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Feeding
Mealtimes represent an integral time where children learn to "behave like a grownup." They expand their social and motor skills as they acquire the skill to maneuver food with utensils and also display table manners.
Your toddler should be able to drink from a straw and a proper cup using only one hand.
Water should be the preferred beverage you offer. Milk should be limited to 2-3 cups per day and juice should largely be avoided.
Avoid snacking in the car, strollers, and while a child is distracted. Have the table be the central place that food is consumed to avoid unhealthy snacking.
Keep the atmosphere upbeat and fun. Nagging and negative comments will only lead to conflict and restricted eating by the toddler trying to establish autonomy.
Keep in mind that some meals toddlers will hardly eat a few beats and other times they will out eat everyone else at the table. This is the normal behavior of a child this age.
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Development & Behavior
By two and a half, toilet training in many has started. Boys need to learn to sit before they stand with both urinating and defecating. Once your toddler has mastered both while sitting, show him how to stand and demonstrate how urinating standing should be done. This is a heroic feat for Dad! Don’t be concerned about mess and aim – it's more important to be positive. But toilet training and hygiene should go hand in hand as toddlers are now old enough to wash and dry their own hands, and both boys and girls should be encouraged to do this every time after using the toilet. Don't be alarmed if your toddler has no interest yet, this is normal too. Some start the process as late as 3 to 3 1/2 years old.
Some twenty-eight to thirty month old toddlers will be able to recount events that happened earlier in the day or the day before and respond to questions when asked what and where, as the long term memory begins to be cultivated. Your toddler's ability to reason and an understanding of what "now", "soon" and "later" will follow soon after. Structure and consistency are useful for helping this along, and looking at photos with your toddler may jog her memory and enable her to think of events in time frames and name a friend she sees in a picture as well as recognize herself in a photo.
She will continue to develop a sense of time and an order of the day through routine and daily activities such as dinner time, nap time, night time, etc.
Around this time, your toddler will also use conventional word order to form more complex sentences, and express negative statements by tacking on negative words such as 'not' to other words. Reading books together also stimulates your toddler to ask questions and learn new words and hone her communication skills
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Activities
Put an old blanket over a table to make a tent or house. Pack a "picnic" sack for your camper. Have your child take along a pillow on the "camp out" for a nap. Flashlights are especially fun.
Tell or read a familiar story and pause frequently to leave out a word, asking your child to "fill it in." For example, Little Red Riding Hood said, "Grammother, what big ______ you have."
A good activity to learn location words is to build roads and brdges with blocks. Use toy cars to go on the road, under or over a bridge, between the houses, and so forth.
Children at this age may be interested in creating art in different ways. Try cutting a potato in half and carving a simple shape or design for your child to dip in paint and then stamp onto paper.
Trace around simple objects with your child. Use cups of different sizes, blocks, or your child's and your hands. Using felt-tip markers or crayons of different colors makes it even more fun.
Have your child help you set the table. First have your child place the plates, then cups, and then napkins. By placing one at each place, he will learn one-to-one correspondence. Show your child where the utensils should be placed.
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