McKenna Toddler Summary: 21 Months Old

A full summary of life for this 21 month old. Find out what daily life was like and find a 21 month old sample schedule to follow.

21 month old toddler with a recent dog bit

You can see her scar from her dog bite–first day with no stitches. She is always happy!

This is a summary for McKenna 20-21 months old.

EATING

Same old same old. She still loves to eat. There haven’t been any new eating adventures.

PLAYING

Things are going well here. Roomtime is still a hit, and she has finally worked up the courage to leave her little circle of toys and move around the room.

A big playtime note this month was an increased interest in playing with siblings. She is starting to want to play with other people more rather than just next to other people.

NAPS

Naps have been good and normal.

SLEEP

Nighttime sleep has been mostly good and normal. The “mostly” is because she sometimes has nightmares.

This happens without fail if she had less sleep than optimal that day. So every Sunday, she wakes about 1-2 hours after being put down with a nightmare. But good news! Church will now start at 9 rather than 1! WAHOO! So naps won’t be disrupted going forward.

>>>Read: Nightmares vs. Night Terrors: How To Help Your Child Through Each

CHRISTMAS DISRUPTIONS

McKenna handled all of the Christmas disruptions for the month quite well. She was pleasant and enjoyed the parties and activities. 

COMMUNICATION

McKenna’s pronunciation is improving and she adds new words daily.

CLEANING

McKenna literally cannot walk through a room, see something out of place, and leave it there. She is always picking up shoes and putting them in the closet, picking up lint and throwing it away, and always helps clean up her toys. Naturally, this is a trait I fully enjoy.

Not all toddlers will be this way. This is very much an individual personality trait.

ECZEMA

McKenna’s eczema has been really good this year.

We haven’t had major problems and all we have done is simple prevention by using aquaphor after baths and using non-irritating soaps in the bath.

In the last few days, she has started to have some flare on her arms, so I am having to use some hydrocortisone cream after each bath on those spots. They aren’t to a bad spot–so far they are just raised, irritated skin. Hopefully I can keep it that way.

We also have soft water, and I think that is the biggest difference of all.

>>>Read: How to Heal Your Child’s Eczema

DOG BITE

On Christmas Eve, McKenna got bit by a dog. Not just a dog, but a great dane. It is my parents’ dog. The dog was asleep and McKenna grabbed her face.

Thankfully, the bite was very small compared to the dog. We spent the night in the emergency room and McKenna left with 8 stitches. She is my first child to have stitches from an injury (Brayden had surgery at age 3).

She was such a trooper. There were definitely things she didn’t like (for example, getting two IVs), but she was pleasant and happy. She had visits from every nurse on duty that night–they all thought she was so cute.

I have long commented on how tenacious McKenna is, and that night, it really showed. They had to sedate her to do the stitches because of the location and how she scrunches her face when crying.

She came out of sedation twice as fast as she was supposed to, and immediately started trying to stand up–even though she had no neck control. She didn’t stop fighting and trying to stand up until she was successful. She just really amazed me that night with her happiness, her grace, and her amazing will. 

We are so thankful that she was not injured any worse than she was. There are so many different ways that could have played out, and we are glad she made it out with “only” eight stitches.

I grew up with dogs. I always had a dog in the house the entire time I was growing up. Nothing negative ever happened.

Even so, I will be a lot more careful around dogs and my children. I have never let them be alone together–the dog was less than a foot away from my mom–but it is obvious even more care needs to be taken.

CONCLUSION

That is basically it! We had lots of fun during this past month and finished it off in a scary way, but I am touched by her strength. I look forward to getting to know this little fighter even better as she starts to get older and more communicative.

TODDLER SCHEDULE

8:15–breakfast
9:00–bath/get ready
10:00–sibling playtime
10:30–independent playtime11:30–learning time
12:00–lunch
1:00–nap
4:00/4:30: get up5:00–Dinner. Free play and family time
8:00–in bed by this time. Sometimes sooner.

 Times are approximate

GOOD BOOKS/WEBSITES

RELATED POSTS

21 Month old toddler schedule

14 thoughts on “McKenna Toddler Summary: 21 Months Old”

  1. My son will be 20 months old next week & I'm looking forward to uneventful months!!! Thanks for the continued summaries. I pray you & your family have a wonderful 2011!

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  2. The dog bite must have been so scary. It's a really neat illustration of her personality, though. "Fighter" sounds about right!

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  3. Kelly,Stuffed animals, blocks, various toys she has had for a while (like nesting cups), little people stuff…her favorite is books, though. See the "best toys…" labels for toys ideas.

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  4. Thanks! My daughter is a few months old than McKenna, so I was just wondering what she plays with. My daughter's favorite is books too. 🙂

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  5. Thanks for the wonderful jobs and your work has strengthen my faith on starting Ezra late on babywise. He has make it after much tears and prayers … Thanks a lot !. Ezra is 17 months and he has dropped his morning nap. Somehow, his 1 nap length is short, and from 2+ hours at the beginning, it is now 1.5 hours only after a long holidays. How to adjust ? Thanks.

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  6. If his nap doesn't naturally lengthen out by now, I would consider going back to two naps. One short morning nap (about one hour) and then an afternoon nap.Another option is to start the one nap earlier in the day and see if that helps. So if you are starting at 1 PM, try 12:45, or 12:30, or 12:15 etc. Good luck!

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  7. It's been a while since I've posted, mainly because I think you were instrumental in giving us a good start and things have been going pretty well. However, DD is now 22 months old and we started 1 nap only from 1-4 about 2-3 months ago. It's been going pretty good, but she's now starting to wake up a little earlier each morning. This morning was 6:10 – which to some working moms is normal, but to this pregnant nearly ready to pop mom is super early. She used to wake around 8 am and her bedtime is 8:30. If I put her down for two naps, she'll take one nice long one (1 1/2 – 2 hours) in the morning and then 20 minutes in the afternoon and is crazy by bedtime. My next attempt will be an earlier bedtime, but I'm SO scared that that will backfire and she'll wake at 5 instead. 😐 Do you have any suggestions? I'd like some sleep before this little one is here. 😉

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  8. Amy,If her waketime in the morning was normal for months after dropping to one month and then she recently started waking up early, I would say it has nothing to do with nap length or wake up time. I would guess it might be getting colder where you are and she needs warmer bedding at night. Think about what changed around the time she started waking early in the morning. Good luck with everything!

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  9. Hello hello! My DS is 21 month, and it's a very fun time! I just let him play (mostly by himself) throughout the day while I'm getting things done. I saw that you had learning time; what do you do during that time? He's very squirmy, so I'm wondering if he'll sit still for learning time. Also, he drinks his milk from a bottle (still!) right when he wakes up. I wait until an hour to give him breakfast (around 9/930am)? Do you think that's too late? I do that because I thought he would be full from the milk. Thanks for your time!

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  10. Hi! I am a firm believer in "baby-wising" our children! =) with that said haha..i feel like i have hit a road block with my 21 month old. He has always been my greatest sleeper and "right on schedule" up until a couple of months ago. He would sleep till 8 in the morning, have crib/room time at 9:30-10:30 (sometimes even cat nap for 15 minutes or longer) then take a 2-3 hour nap around 1:30. Bedtime by 7! NOW…haha that has completely change! He is up by 6 AM(or earlier) no morning cat nap, only naps for about 1.5 hours in the afternoon and though we put him to bed by 6:30/6:45 he doesnt fall asleep until 8 PM or later!! I'm going crazy! haha I have no idea what I'm doing wrong or why he isn't sleeping. its been going on for almost 2 months now. Any suggestions would be great!

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