What age do you think is worthy of the title "toddler"?

[jojo2324]

I don't want to bust in on the Toddler group! I still consider him a baby (14 months), but he definitely has some toddler stuff going on. Is it talking? Walking and talking? 2?

[Karenn]

I kind of always equated the onset of toddlerhood to the whole autonomy phase that babies hit- when they really start showing you that they have their own preferences. With Colin, when he first started locking up his little lips when I would try to feed him some foods and not others, I thought I was in the beginnings of toddlerhood. Now that he's walking, I'd like to think that he's an "official" toddler, and not just an emotional one, but I'm not sure.:) I may feel differently once he hits 2 and say to myself, "What was I thinking? That was NOT toddlerhood, THIS is toddlerhood!" I'm curious to hear what others think!

[egoldber]

I'm not sure. The transition is so gradual. But at some point it just struck me, she's a toddler now! For us, the transition was definitely not gross motor milestones like walking. It's really hard to describe, but it had to do with her awareness of herself as an individual and the emergence of her personality.

[lmintzer]

I agree--the transition is a really gradual one. I just asked DH, and he remembers telling me "Jack's achieved toddler status" when he was 15-16 months. My response: "He's still my baby." Of course, he will always be my baby, but he definitely started seeming more toddler-like around this time. This is when he started talking and we noticed an increase in receptive language skills. Play also changed around this time--he started to like playing (or watching us play with) the puppets from the Baby Einstein series videos. He started to love playing with balls (throwing and "fetching"). He self-weaned at 15 months and gave up the bottle as well. By 20 months, he most certainly was a full-fledged toddler.

At any rate, please feel welcome to post here however old your child is. IMO, this is a good place for anyone with toddler questions (whether they have a toddler or not).

And hopefully, we can all still post over on the Baby Bargains board even though our babies have "graduated".

Lisa
& Jack, 4/20/01
& Little Boy Two, e.d.d., 12/15/03

[trumansmom]

MLK, Jr. weekend, when DS was 14 months old was a big weekend. He learned to climb up on all of the furniture, used a fork for the first time, and said "bear" and rocked his teddy bear all in a couple hours time. I've always used that weekend as the switch from baby to toddler. (He now gets VERY indignant if you call him a baby!)

I think you just sort of know it when you see it.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/29/01 and EDD 4/23/04!

[jadamom]

drgreene.com says it's ages 1-3 (look under toddler development). I think it's when they start walking, cuz it's a whole different ballgame when they can run around and get into everything!