1) Safety guidelines: Your child has become mobile, and will likely get into things in your home, in order for him to explore his environment safely here are a few tips.

• Make sure you have placed safety guidelines in place in your home.  Place plugs in electrical outlets, lock doors or safety latch doors you do not want the child entering. Place latches on cabinets. Consider bracing furniture to the walls, if you have a child that likes to climb.  Safety gates so your child cannot get down the stairs.

2)  A Picky Eater: So you feel your child is a picky eater.  Most children are probably getting enough nutrients, even if they are not eating what you would expect.  As long as the child appears to be growing and developing properly, and has energy to play-they are probably getting enough nourishment.

Parents of picky eaters should remember that:

• Just remember Toddlers only eat 1/4 of the adult portion of food.
• If your toddler loves to drink water, juice, or milk.  Try and limit the liquid, it might be making them to full to eat.  Limit juice to 6 oz. a day.
• Toddlers like to feed themselves, we know it is messy, but let them have at it!
• Let them try what you are eating.  It is good to expose them to a variety of foods.

3.  Temper Tantrums: So you are approaching on the terrible two’s.  Your child is likely to get frusturated easily, mainly due to the fact that they have difficulty expressing their wants and needs.  While you might expect temper tantrums to occur, here are a few tips to diffuse them.

• Try to anticipate their frusturation before a tantrum occurs, that way you can distract them before it occurs.
• Once a tantrum starts it might take a while for your child to calm down.  But it is important that you let them have their tantrum, and not give into it.
• More about Toddler Discipline from About.com

4) When to start potty training:

Some toddlers are ready to potty train as early as 18 months, but most around 2 years old.  It is helpful to start talking about going potty on the toilet, try potty training books, dvd’s etc…

• Assess the readiness of your child.  Do they know they are wet, or have pooped in their diaper?  Do they follow simple commands?
• Research different potty training methods, and decide which is best for your child/family.
• Don’t push a child into potty training, look and wait for signs of readiness.

5)  Language Development:

All toddlers have different levels of vocabulary.  Children all start to speak at different times.

Here are some guidelines on the number of words a child should know (found on about.com):

• Will say Mama/Dada between 7 and 15 months
• Say about 4-6 words between 11 and 22 months
• Will say 50 or more words between 18 and 27 months

It is important to encourage vocabulary.  Talk to your child.  Read books to your child.  Use flashcards with pictures and words.  Go over numbers and the alphabet.

Also you can ask directed questions instead of yes/no.  Ask them would they like milk or water?  Praise their responses.

Resource on language development

*Information was obtained from about.com