There is a load of things you will have to be mindful of as your child grows up and older in his second year. Child development in year 2 involves a lot of details and making sure that you have a good understanding of what to expect and what not to can be good for you. As your child grows up in the second year, it is possible that you become not so bothered about the things you see because they are not much different from what you have been seeing and you may therefore consider them as ephemeral. However, I want to assure you that it is at this period that budding character and abilities are shown which you must take time to value as they will not only make you understand your child better but will also help you to enjoy your child’s development as he grows through this stage.

If my guess is right, you would want to be a proud parent who would want to watch as her child develops properly in the early stages of life. You will however need to know that these are the formative stages and the earlier you ensure that your child gets the proper nourishment in every area of his life which will help to develop in him all the kind of qualities and values you would want to see in him the better. This will need to have you participate fully in the several developmental stages of this period. It is very interesting really and you can not be bored for one moment.

One of the observations you may make is that your child will begin to develop in skills and you may even have to start wondering where he picked them up from if you are not watchful enough. If you take note of these developments, they would be excellent opportunities for you to influence how your child will eventually be or who he will grow up to be. you will be able to make your own assessment of the progress of the development of your child and speed things up a little for more results.

Physical Appearance of Your Child at Age Two
 

• At this age, your child will be able to have a more erect posture but the stomach will still be protruding while the back will still sway. This is because the abdominal muscles that are necessary for support are not developed fully at this stage.
  
• Increase agility will bring about more in your child’s activities and his body temperature will fluctuate with the environment he finds himself, his emotional state and his level of activity.
  
• His heart is expected to develop as well and function more in the pumping of blood around the body. This will make the child experience slow and more regular respiration movements.
  
• The set of milk teeth is not complete yet but there should be about 15 of the baby teeth at about this period.
  
  Motor Development
  
  
• Your child will have sharper reflexes and will be able to walk more erect and around obstacles without falling down frequently.
  
• The backbone and muscles are more developed and it will not be a serious bother for him to squat down for several minute to play.
  
• Your child may begin to show some inclination towards independence and may begin to climb stairs without any assistance from anyone but at this stage it is more likely the process will be done with the legs following the same pattern and not with alternating legs. While playing, he may begin to jump up and down on one leg but will fall most of the time.
  
• You can achieve a lot with toilet training at this period with your child as he will show more readiness to be trained and depending on your child’s physical and neurological development, the experience could be a breeze. However you should be on the lookout for accidents and never be too confident of his capabilities at this stage.
  
• The operations of simple machines in the house may become accomplishable for your child such as unzipping large zippers and unbuttoning large buttons. He will also be able to open doors after understanding it takes the turning of the door knob.
  
• Your child will show some affinity for activities that involve pouring and filling such as water, Styrofoam peanuts and sand from one container to another. Your child may even become capable of using his feet to propel riding toys that are wheeled.
  
  
  Cognitive Power Development
  
  
• With increase use in motor abilities, the cognitive power also becomes more developed. For example, there will be a more coordinated eye-hand movement and your child will begin to learn how he can put objects together or take them apart if he wants to and how he may fit large pegs into pegboards.
  
• The development of the cognitive power of your child even becomes more noticeable with actions like separating or creating classification tasks that makes him distinguish between items like his toys and separates them into different categories.
  
• His curiosity appears to be more easily aroused now than before and he may be seen to get fascinated by objects and people and may have to stare at them for a long time in an effort to figure out what was responsible for a particular type of action. He may find more time for self-selected activities in an attempt to unravel what he considers a mystery of the cause for a particular action
  
• He develops a knack for looking for familiar persons at the right places. He can note their absence and on a saunter he will go looking at the right room. He can also search for hidden objects and always bears it in mind to look in the last hiding place first before any other place. He can name and identify objects in picture books and if he finds them appealing, he may make out to pick them of the books to eat them or taste them.
  
• His power of recognition also extends to the indentifying and giving expression of pain when experienced.
  
• Your child will be expected to be able to use magical thinking in believing that toys are real.
  

Language Development

• Your child should begin to show some enjoyment for being read to and will follow you with animated noise while pointing to images as you turn the pages.
  
• He will begin to understand the need for language as a tool for others to understand him and respond to his needs.
  
• It will become obvious at this stage that is vocabulary is increasing and may even have broken the linguistic code and in essence his words and speeches will have meaning to him.
  
• He becomes more developed in his receptive language than his expressive language and by this can understand more of what he hears than he has the ability to talk about.
  
• His ability to express himself increases with formation of three to four word statements. Stammering and incoherencies are however common at this stage.
  
• Social and Emotional Development
  
• Your child will begin to show concerns for other children that suffer hurt or are frightened. He may even offer affectionate hugs and kisses.
  
• He may use physical aggression when angry or frustrated but this kind of attitude gradually lessens as improvement in verbal skills increase.
  
• Your child is likely to show his enjoyment for running or helping out with household chores and he may imitate everyday activity such as scrubbing the floor.

The more of your time you can spend and commit into the development of your child when he turns two, the more the discoveries of the abilities you will find embedded in him.