17 months old: your toddler starts mimicking & comparing

Your toddler is now beginning to understand that Mommy is a separate person and so is Daddy. He starts using terms like “you” and “me” and is very interested in Daddy and Mommy’s bodies. Your toddler starts mimicking and comparing.

Your toddler starts mimicking & comparing

He discovers that Mommy has boobies, and he and Daddy don’t. He flawlessly identifies all the similarities and differences. For the first time in his life, your toddler can empathize with another person, now that he realizes that he is a separate person and that another person is also a separate person. For example, for the first time, he has realized that another person does not have to have the same preferences as himself. That absolutely did not occur to him when he was younger. He has become less self-centered. That has all kinds of consequences. He can actually comfort someone now. His pantomime is reaching a peak. He mimics anything and everything, all day long. His fantasy play is now getting off the ground.

Living creatures

Your toddler now finds other living creatures very fascinating, from ants to dogs. After all, they are all “systems. Your child is beginning to realize that he lives in a family. And that his family is different from his friend’s family, which he goes to two days a week (for example). After all, his family is the first human organization he gets to know from the inside. And he unerringly realizes that in his friend’s family, you don’t have to eat a sandwich with savory fillings before you can start on the sweet stuff. In his family, different rules are followed.

Artistic side

Just as he comes to recognize his family as a system, he also comes to distinguish his family from other families. It’s the same with his friends. And with his home and his neighborhood. He is getting better at finding his way around his familiar surroundings outside his home. He becomes very conscious of his clothes, he can be very vain and can be very possessive when it comes to his toys. 

He now starts making art: he no longer scratches when drawing, but now ‘draws’, for example, “horses,” “boats” and “himself. And he can really enjoy music. His sense of time is beginning to develop. He is now getting better at remembering past experiences and predicting future events. 

He can now start saying phrases for the first time. This is not to say that every toddler now does. As with the elaboration of all other skills, children differ greatly in the age at which they begin to do so. All toddlers now understand much of what you say to them, but some still speak very few words. Others do speak many words and do a lot of mimes but don’t talk in sentences yet. And others do use phrases. Whether or not your child does depends on how you interact with them.

Clear rules

Whining and squealing to get his way, childish behavior, being sloppy when it can actually be done nicely, being careless, and hurting another person on purpose. You may wonder if you are the only one who is so annoyed by this kind of behavior. No, of course not. Your toddler is no longer a baby. Now is the time to start setting up clear boundaries. 

Your toddler needs it. Having entered the world of principles, he craves rules. He varies endlessly to learn them. Just as he is hungry and entitled to daily food, so is he entitled to rules. And most rules he can only discover by being handed them by you, especially when it comes to social rules. 

You must make it clear to him what he can and can’t do. In doing so, you are really not doing him any harm. And who better to teach him than someone who loves him?

Standards and values

A toddler learns at lightning speed. On the other hand, what he learns now is difficult to change later. Among other things, this is where the formation of conscience and the teaching of values and standards begins. If this does not go well from here, it will be noticeable a few years later. Giving it all your attention is an important in-depth investment for you and your little one.

If your curiosity has been sparked and you want to know all about the 10 leaps, the fussy phases, and all the accompanying skills, order the book or download the app now!