Jumping and threading

I have a little one who has his two year check next week. Mum was sent a questionnaire which she has to fill in prior to the meeting. She has given me a copy of it. It's all fairly straight forward stuff, but a couple of things stood out to both of us as being tricky for a 24 month old.

The first one is jumping. We have been practising a lot and he can just about, sometimes, get both feet off the ground.

The second one is threading beads or pasta onto a shoelace. He can thread them onto a rigid thing, like a stick when it is standing up in playdough. We tried a pipe cleaner but he wasn't quite managing it, let alone a shoe lace! I'm not concerned because he'll get there soon.

Can your two year olds do these things easily? Mine is 24 months and a couple of weeks.

I've got two 2 year olds at the moment and I've been going through the questionnaire (I assume it's the same one, the ASQ-3 one).

The children are 26 months and 25 months. The older one can jump with both feet off the ground, but can't thread beads. The younger one can thread chunky beads but can't jump off the floor. I don' think it's things they should definitely be doing, but it does give you an idea of things to try with them.
A few years ago another mum had the same questionnaire and got into a flap because she didn't think her son couldn't thread beads. I sent her a video of him doing it! He was slightly older, more like 30 months.

How's your mindee on the speech & communication parts? One of the questions is "Does your child call herself “I” or “me” more often than her own name?
For example, “I do it,” more often than “Emily do it.”". My 26 month old only says about half a dozen recognisable words and nothing even close to anything like that! But when you speak to the HV about it, they're not worried at this age because his understanding is good. To me, that seems quite a high standard to set for a 2 year old.

Yes, it's the same questionnaire Mouse.

I was just speaking to mum about that very question! We both think that mindee says his name, rather than 'I' more, but we both felt that we also reinforce that because we will say things like 'xxxxx' turn and now Maza's turn' instead of 'your turn, my turn'. We are both going to make an effort to model the pronouns from the questionnaire. Other than that he's great at all the communication ones because that is his strength.

He can just about build a tower with 7 objects - 7 is quite a lot I thought.

I wouldn't worry!

as long as the child is making good progress, and you are happy, then just keep going as you are!

my large 20mth old mindee has just 'got' jumping !!! He is so proud of himself. He can thread cut up plastic straws ( about inch long ) onto a pipe cleaner, JUST ABOUT ... but nothing smaller, he isn't dexterous enough! I don't know if they are still called 'scoobidoo', but long thin plastic laces are good as a next step for threading as they are still a bit rigid and easier to control for a small child. However, I have another little one who only got jumping at about 30 months!

I get quite frustrated with the speech and language bits as well ... I know it is to flag up any concerns, but it does worry parents. I had a mum who had the riot act read to her because her just 2 yr old, was barely saying a thing ... however, he listened brilliantly, understood everything, and was an excellent communicator, just hadn't started speaking more than a few words. By the time he turned 3, he was one of the most eloquent children I had! It was there, just needed time.

However, I accept that these children are the 'lucky' ones, because they are with us, and we know when to worry and when not to worry.

When the new EYFS comes in in September, all the age bands for under 3 are disappearing, and it's much more about if they are making good progress! it is going to be interesting to see what the HVs decide to do! i suspect they will carry on as they are!

Is it 200 words they are expected to know by 2 years by the HV can’t remember.

Read a saying some where . If you plant 100 seeds would you expect them to grow at the same time?
Why expect children too.

It was something like that, probably totally different but means the same and you will get the jiffy I’m sure..

Exactly Dragonfly!

The other funny statement/question on that form is one under the problem solving category - something along the lines of 'if the child wants something which is out of reach, do they get a stool and climb on it to try and reach it?' We had a good laugh at that one! Surely they could have picked a better example - no one wants to encourage that one.