McKenna Toddler Summary: 31 Months Old

A full summary of life for this 31 month old. Find out what daily life was like and find a 31 month old toddler sample schedule to follow.

For those who need a quick translation, McKenna is now 2.5 years old plus one month. So 7 months past two years old.

Last month, as I shared, was a rough one with those molars coming in. This month was much better. All four of those two year molars are in and she is back to her super bubbly, happy-go-lucky self. Except for the ear infections…more to come.

EATING

Same old story…eating well and eating lots. Until one week when she would declare she was done after one bite. That was my first clue something was wrong.

PLAYTIME 

Playtime is great and normal. 

SLEEPING

Sleep is normal. She is still doing awesome (knock on wood) with the move to her twin bed. We haven’t had any issues.

At the very end of this month, she did have a night when she woke crying in the night. I went into her room and we cuddled for a while. Then my husband came in and he took a turn cuddling with her.

She was obviously not feeling well. She was fine as soon as I held her, but she was in pain, and if McKenna shows discomfort, it is real pain. After an hour of cuddling, we gave her some pain killer and she wanted to go back to bed. 

I was up for most of the night worried about her since it is so unlike her to be in pain. As soon as the doctor’s office opened, I called and got her an appointment for that morning.

By this point, she had told us her “ear was hurty.” I told her we would go to the doctor to get it checked out. She then declared her ear was “feeling all better now.” I said we would go and make sure. She sat for a few minutes and said, “Daddy says it is all better now.” Tricky little thing! Isn’t she smart? 😉 I said we would go make sure. 

At the doctor, she still was insisting her ear was better. When the doctor walked in, however, she fessed up right away. She loves her doctor. So long as it was him that was going to look, and not one of those nurses who gives vaccinations (aren’t doctors smart that they don’t do vaccinations?), she was willing to tell the truth. 

She told him her right ear hurt, so he looked at her left ear and said it had an infection. Then he looked at her right and it had a bad infection. My doctor and I are both believers in antibiotics for ear infections, so we got her on that right away. It was bad enough it took her a few days to really start to improve. Poor little thing. 

She had no fever. She hadn’t had a cold or a cough. So now I need to be super observant about her behavior and know if she is not eating well, I need to take her to the doctor right away.

With her high pain threshold, it takes her a long time to complain. And she was still running around like normal. The only real sign was the not eating well. The night before she woke in the night, she just wanted me to hold her so my husband made dinner while she and I sat together. Hopefully if she gets an ear infection again, I can catch it before it gets to be too painful for her.

>>>Read: Should Your Child Get Ear Tubes?

POTTY TRAINING

Potty training ended about as quickly as it started. I had decided months before that September would be a great month for potty training. The older two would be in school and historically, September is a calm month.

However, I decided to learn how to can and preserve food this year. I guess I technically learned last year, but I did a bunch this year. So right when we started, I was canning 80 pounds of pears and then tomatoes, peaches, salsa, spaghetti sauce…it was a lot. I am not experienced at it, so doing that and watching McKenna as closely as you need to in the beginnings of potty training was too much.

She did well enough. She would stay dry for long periods, but she hadn’t figured out how to go in the potty. I would put a diaper on her for naps and bedtime. After three days, I decided I needed to stop and do this when I could give her my full attention.

I don’t know exactly when that will be. It might be after Christmas before we are able to do that. I do ask her every so often if she wants to wear panties. I like to wait for the child to be ready before potty training because I think it makes it so smooth. She wants diapers, so we are sticking to that for now. She has figured out how to go on the potty, so that is a big step in the right direction. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Big things this month…just the beginnings of the holidays and also the time change. We haven’t been able to do any sort of prep because of school schedules in the older two. McKenna has always been a flexible person, so I am hoping she will be able to take it smoothly without it disturbing her too much.

OUR SCHEDULE

1-3 days a week, this schedule is disrupted due to school drop offs and pick ups. I still need to perfect what it will be for the school year. Now that we have been in school for a month, I think I have a better idea for what we should do. 

8:00–Wake up and eat breakfast
9:15–Get ready
9:30–Chores
10:00–Learning Poster and read stories with Mommy
10:30–Independent Play
11:30–TV time possibly
12:00–Lunch
12:30–Learning activity and free play with sibling
1:30–Nap
4:00 or 4:30–Get up–or free play. 
5:30–Dinner
6:00–Family Activities
7:30–Get ready for bed
8:00–Bedtime 

FAVORITE TOYS

I did this a while back and have forgotten to include it. Her favorite toys right now are the play kitchen and all of the food and accessories. She loves the grocery cart a lot. A baby stroller and all doll stuff is another huge hit. She also really likes the little people toys. 

Good Books and Websites for Parenting Toddlers

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6 thoughts on “McKenna Toddler Summary: 31 Months Old”

  1. Oh those ear infections can drive you crazy. We're on set of tubes #2 for my four year old and if you end up needing to go that route, don't hesitate…it makes a WORLD of difference. I can't tell you how many times I had to take Sadie Beth to the pediatrician and have them look at me like a I was crazy because her "symptom" was not sleeping well. Most of the time they would be surprised that I was right and she had an ear infection…eventually they started to trust my mommy-instincts more. Hope they aren't chronic for her!

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  2. I'm sorry she had to go through that pain – isn't it amazing that some children will not complain of pain? She certainly is a smart cookie, bringing in "Daddy's opinion" about her ear being okay now. Very interesting to hear about the potty training. I had decided to try to wait for my 29MO to be ready before potty training again, too. He loves his little wheelbarrow which is his version of a shopping cart, I think, and your mention of this type of toy makes me want to clean it up and let him use it inside the house. 🙂 I'll think about that a while longer.

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  3. Loving…do you know at what point they are "chronic"? I do worry because DH's sisters' kids pretty much all had to have tubes in their ears, so I want to be sure I catch it if she needs it.

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  4. Kristy you should do it! But maybe wait until we get further into winter so it will be more of a novelty to him in the dead of winter.

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  5. My daughter had several ear infections last winter, and we went through three different kinds of antibiotics. We're hoping things are different this year, but if not, tubes will likely be in our future. The only way we knew an ear infection had started was poor eating (she's a great eater), and she would not want to lay down in her bed.

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