McKenna Toddler Summary: 32 Months Old

A full summary of life for this 32 month old. Find out what daily life was like and find a 32 month old toddler sample schedule to follow.

McKenna is now 2.5 plus two months. 

EATING

Eating is all normal. She still eats well and eats a lot of food.

PLAYING

She is getting more and more imaginative with her play all of the time. She is an imaginative person, and inventive with her games.

She is OBSESSED with backpacks right now. I am sure it is because she wants to be like Brayden and Kaitlyn. She fills her backpack up with Legos (duplos) and then runs everywhere she goes. And thus you hear a “chink, chink, chink, chink” as she is on the move :). 

SLEEPING

Sleep is good and normal. She goes to bed at about 8 PM and gets up between 8-8:30 AM. She takes a nap each day for about 3 hours. Sometimes 2.5, sometimes 3.5. 

DENTIST

You would not believe how brave she was at the dentist. I guess it isn’t true bravery if you aren’t scared in the first place? She was so nonchalant about it.

They had her lay on the real dentist chair for the first time this visit. She did without being concerned. Then she opened her mouth and let them clean her teeth with their tools. The dentist was shocked. He had never had someone that age be so unconcerned about the whole thing, and I know my older two definitely didn’t! 

>>>Read: Dentist Tips for Kids

EAR INFECTIONS

One day this past month she really pushed me to my limit. She was so very grumpy and did everything she should not do. Really driving me crazy. I knew this was very unlike her, so I took her to the doctor.

I felt a little silly that her symptom was grumpiness and disobedience, but I knew something was wrong. I am not one who brings her kids in over small things, so no one gave me a look like I was crazy. Plus I think you earn some clout as you have multiple children. 

I was right! She had a double ear infection. No fever, no complaining. She was eating well and sleeping well.

But she was grumpy and not herself so I knew something was wrong. She went on another run of antibiotics and next week I will be taking her in to be checked again.

If she has an infection again, we will be looking at tubes. If anyone has any tube experience and input, please share! After a day, she started to return to her happy self and is now just a joy. It has been a while since we have had just happy McKenna because she had a couple of months of teething followed by one to two months of ear infections, so it is nice to have the sweet (and spunky) girl back. And nice is an understatement.

>>>Read: Surviving an Ear Infection

TOO MANY FREEDOMS

A common problem around this age is coming into too many freedoms. See this post for a full breakdown: The Choice Addiction (for Toddlers).

One day, my husband and I came to the conclusion that part of McKenna’s behavior issues were that she had too many freedoms. It is very easy to do, and I think it is especially easy to do when you have older children.

It is easiest to just let everyone have mostly the same level of freedoms, but it is not the best. I have a post on this, too: Siblings and the Funnel.

We stripped everything down so she had no freedoms for an afternoon. Then we started adding age-appropriate freedoms back in.

The interesting thing is that she immediately improved. She did not fight the freedom restriction and she immediately improved her behavior.

CHRISTMAS TREE

She is doing really well with the Christmas tree and not touching it. This year, her ornament was Elmo, and as you can see from the picture above, she super loves it. That was when she was putting it up on the tree when we were decorating.

Every time she walks in the room she cheers that we have a tree, that Elmo is on it, and that it is “sparkly.” 

TIME CHANGE

McKenna handled the time change well. It did not go as smoothly as I had expected, but she hadn’t had prep and also had the ear infections going on, so it is understandable. After a couple of days, she was back to normal.

>>>Read: Tips for Shifting Your Schedule {Time Change, Time Zones}

LOOKING AHEAD

We will be making another run at potty training this next month. Yes, yes I am crazy to do it during December. I know it. Sometimes I can’t help myself. It just seems like the right moment.

>>>Read: 5 Things To Do Before You Start Potty Training

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

Her favorites are the same as last month. She added the backpack and Legos. From last month: 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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32 month old toddler schedule

6 thoughts on “McKenna Toddler Summary: 32 Months Old”

  1. Love that you mention the too many freedoms at this age. My son is a week younger and we've been pulling him back into the funnel on so many levels. It's amazing how instant the fix is when you realize that they were allowed a freedom to early and how easy it is to take it away and try again later. Oh, we are trying potty training again this month too, the day after Christmas, not super wise but I am off for two days and my husband is off from teaching for the Christmas week. Hope your goes as smooth as it can, we have sending up big prayers we have better luck this time now that Noah is older and showing all the signs of being ready. Love your blog! I have another on the way in March and really spending time going back over your old posts to refresh myself, I'm so focused on the toddler stage that I forgot what I have in store for me when it comes to newborns. Your blog and the love and hard work you pour into your bag is heaven sent, thank u~

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  2. When you talked about taking away freedoms, what kinds of things did you take away? Are you not letting her make decisions (even as simple as what to eat for lunch?), or is it taking away toys, certain playtimes, etc…? I'm constantly trying to decide how many/what kind of decisions to let DS1 (30m) make, and would be interested in what you're doing w/your daughter. Thanks!

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  3. I would love to have her schedule! My 18 mo DS had just transitioned to 1 nap when daylight savings hit. He has been waking early (sometimes 2 hours!) and it really throws off naps. he is super clingy and fussy and is throwing a lot more tantrums. I don't know if I should go back to 2 naps or not. How did you get your kids to take a 3+ hour nap? I usued to have a great sleeper that would take a 2 hour nap but since daylight savings it's only about 1.5 or 2 hours if I am lucky and I know he is overtired but I don't know how to fix it!

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  4. Michele, congrats on your pending arrival! Good luck on the potty training. McKenna is now potty trained, so hopefully yours can work out too!

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  5. lwicks,Yes, an example would be she does not get to choose what she has for lunch. Then for a toddler, you add in two choices, "Would you like an apple or an orange with your lunch?" and let them choose that way. A great way to test the freedoms appropriateness is to not always let your child choose. So if you typically let him choose his shirt, one day you would choose for him. If he has a fit about it, then choosing the shirt is a freedom he isn't ready for yet. That post I linked about it will be very helpful for you.

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  6. Lommori Family, they just started sleeping longer. If he isn't sleeping well since going to one nap, i would try two again and see if that helps. Sometimes they just arn't ready for one yet.

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