Child Development Observation: Toddler at Age Two

Running Record

Thomas is watching Paw Patrol on the couch — not so much sitting as lying on his stomach with his feet in the air. When the episode ends, he cries out, "IT'S OVER!" He gets no response, so he hops down from the couch and looks for his mother. "It's over, Mama!" he whines. "Okay, well, I told you you could watch one episode!" she responds. Thomas whines more loudly. "I want to watch another one! I want to watch Blaze!" he cries, stretching out the sounds in the last words to emphasize them. He pouts, fusses, and pulls at his hair and face as though he cannot stand the predicament. His mother says, "Why don't we color?" Thomas cries more vehemently. His mother, unperturbed, says lovingly and with some excitement in her tone: "We got those new coloring books and crayons from the store! Remember?" Thomas stops crying. "Oh yeah! We got crayons and coloring books!" He is now excited about coloring and jumps up and down, claps his hands, smiles, and laughs. His mother gets up to retrieve the crayons and coloring books.

Thomas colors for a few moments. He does not stay in the lines, but he uses a variety of colors and fills each individual section of the page before selecting a new crayon for the next section. After coloring several pages, he says, "All done, Mama! Now can I have uh apple?" His mother says, "Just one minute." Thomas sidles up alongside her and persists, "Mama, can I have uh apple?" "One minute," she replies. He waits perhaps three seconds, then asks with a little more pout in his tone — his familiar face-pulling and whine appearing — "I want uh apple…" followed by a whimper. "Okay, let's get an apple," his mother says. He follows her happily into the kitchen, jumping and skipping as he goes. She cuts an apple for him, and he dances around the room while eating it.

When his older brother and sister come in, he roars with excitement and shouts with a mouthful of apple, "APPLE!" He spins in several circles before crashing off down the hall. He follows his older siblings and begins watching them play with Legos, mimicking their actions. He sets his apple down and picks up some Legos. Thomas puts three Lego blocks together, then holds them in his hand and picks his apple back up as he stomps around the room roaring like a dinosaur. He stops, moves his head from side to side — his whole body swaying with it — and sings the Paw Patrol theme song in broken toddler English: "Paw Puhchol, Paw Puhchol! Be there on uh double!" as he continues to sway and walk around the room, clutching his Legos and finishing his apple.

References

Fagot, B. I., Hagan, R., Leinbach, M. D., & Kronsberg, S. (1985). Differential reactions to assertive and communicative acts of toddler boys and girls. Child Development, 1499–1505.

Fiese, B. H. (1990). Playful relationships: A contextual analysis of mother–toddler interaction and symbolic play. Child Development, 61(5), 1648–1656.

Garner, B. P., & Bergen, D. (2006). Play development from birth to age four. Play from birth to twelve: Contexts, perspectives, and meanings, 3–12.

Piaget, J. (1964). Part I: Cognitive development in children: Piaget development and learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2(3), 176–186.