McKenna Toddler Summary: 21 Months Old

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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

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