McKenna Pre-Toddler Summary: 17.5 Months Old

A full summary of life for this 17.5 month old. Find out what daily life was like and find a 17.5 month old sample schedule to follow.

17.5 month old McKenna reading with her dad

The last two weeks have been quite calm. So calm I considered not even doing a summary…then I realized she was almost not a pre-toddler, so I had to do it! Just so I can call her a pre-toddler one extra time.

EATING

Great. She is continuing to get better and better with the spoon. Sometimes she eats part of the meal with it, then wants me to feed her.

I tell her she can do it and she doesn’t always like that. I am not sure if she is conflicted over growing up, decides it is getting to be too much work, or just wants to eat faster and knows I can provide that…or something else altogether.

PLAYING

The biggest story here is that she and Kaitlyn started having more consistent sibling play since Brayden started school. They have a lot of fun together.

I schedule 20-30 minutes of them alone together and we haven’t had any issues.

She is more interested in playing with other kids and wanting to join them.

BLANKET TIME

We started blanket time again. She remembered exactly what it was and what the rules were. The first day she was literally perfect. I was in shock.

Day two….I moved her back onto the blanket while she giggled in delight about a billion times. She never got frustrated with it.

I sat there for 25 minutes moving her back on, waiting for her to finally sit. I ended up waiting until she waited a couple of seconds and I snatched her off and said blanket time was over.

The girl is tenacious. And loves a good time.

>>>Read: Blanket Time Full Guide

SLEEPING

Sleep is all good, but I do plan on evaluating the morning nap need over the next two weeks to see if it needs to be shortened or even dropped.

Most children are about 18 months when they drop it, and she has been pretty close to text book, so I will be looking into that.

>>>Read: Dropping the Morning Nap Full Guide

COMMUNICATION

She still adds words every day. She also tries to stay pretty much everything you say. I love listening to these little ones try to say words. It is so cute what their version of the word ends up being.

TEETH

I think we got a new tooth in? We either got a new molar, or nothing happened. I am going to have to sit down and write it all out.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule is more structured now:

8:15–breakfast
9:00–bath/get ready
9:30–go for a walk
10:00–learning time
10:30–sibling playtime
11:00–nap
12:30–lunch
1:00–blanket time
1:30–independent play
2:30–“help” me with chores
3:00–nap
5:00–wake. Dinner. Free play and family time
8:00–in bed by this time. Sometimes sooner.

GOOD BOOKS

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17.5 month old daily schedule

11 thoughts on “McKenna Pre-Toddler Summary: 17.5 Months Old”

  1. what is your wake times b/t naps and bed? we're getting into trouble with a day that starts at 5:30am and end in tears before bed (with a 4-5 hr wake time before the 2nd nap and bed).

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  2. I have an almost 18 month old. She is a great sleeper – about 2 months ago I started dropping her morning nap (some days she needs it, some days she doesn't). Since then, she has had a really hard time in the evenings. I thought she might not be ready to drop that morning nap, but when she sleeps in the morning (even if it's only 45 minutes) she does not take a good afternoon nap and is even more of a wreck for the evenings. We went to dinner a few nights ago and she was "that" child – yelling and throwing tantrums, etc. Do you have any suggestions on a good schedule for napping that I should try? Right now, it looks like this: 9:00 wake; 10-12:30 Ind Playtime/crafting/family play; 12:30 lunch; 2:00 -5:30 nap. I've put her down earlier for that afternoon nap but she won't fall asleep for at least 1 hour or she wakes up before 4:00 so I've been sticking with the 2:00 time. Sorry for the long comment – I've not sent this before now because I thought she would just "grow" out of this, but it's now been over 2 months and she's still having problems. Thanks for your help and your amazing blog – it has been such a great resource!

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  3. Becca, what time does she go to bed at night? It might be an issue of slightly unnatural sleep patterns. 9 is a really nice time for you to get up in the morning, but it might be that she is starting off to late and is just "off"–especially if she is going to bed late because of it.

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  4. Well she has always had the 9pm-9am sleep schedule with no problems. Since I posted, I have dropped her morning nap all together and most days she takes a 3.5-4 hour afternoon nap, going to bed at 9pm waking at 9am. She still can get whiny in the afternoons but I'm starting to think it's due to a lack of structure in that after dinner/before bedtime area. Thanks for your input.

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  5. You are welcome. I am glad you figured it out! Thanks for the feedback on what helped. It helps other moms to see what worked and what didn't.

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  6. Any suggestions on activities in the evenings? It's usually my time to cook dinner and my husband is home – which turns into them playing for a little while then "free" play I guess you could say.

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  7. I am someone who keeps evenings basically just free play/family time. I like to do things like bike rides and walks (I am dreaming of nice weather right now 🙂 ), play with toys, with older kids, a family movie night, run errands as a family (not super fun but nice to get out of the house), maybe color together or do other crafty projects…

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