Developmental Milestones: 2 Year Olds

Movement milestones

• Walks alone
• Pulls toys behind her while walking
• Carries large toy or several toys while walking
• Begins to run
• Stands on tiptoe
• Kicks a ball
• Climbs onto and down from furniture unassisted
• Walks up and down stairs holding on to support

Milestones in hand and finger skills

• Scribbles spontaneously
• Turns over container to pour out contents
• Builds tower of four blocks or more
• Might use one hand more frequently than the other

Language milestones

• Points to object or picture when it’s named for him
• Recognizes names of familiar people, objects, and body parts
• Says several single words (by fifteen to eighteen months)
• Uses simple phrases (by eighteen to twenty-four months)
• Uses two- to four-word sentences
• Follows simple instructions
• Repeats words overheard in conversation

Cognitive milestones

• Finds objects even when hidden under two or three covers
• Begins to sort by shapes and colors
• Begins make-believe play

Social and emotional milestones

• Imitates behavior of others, especially adults and older children
• Increasingly aware of herself as separate from others
• Increasingly enthusiastic about company of other children
• Demonstrates increasing independence
• Begins to show defiant behavior
• Increasing episodes of separation anxiety toward midyear, then they fade

Developmental health watch

• Cannot walk by eighteen months
• Fails to develop a mature heel-toe walking pattern after several months of walking, or walks
  exclusively on his toes
• Does not speak at least fifteen words by eighteen months
• Does not use two-word sentences by age two
• Does not seem to know the function of common household objects (brush, telephone, bell, fork,
  spoon) by fifteen months
• Does not imitate actions or words by the end of this period
• Does not follow simple instructions by age two
• Cannot push a wheeled toy by age two

Thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics for this content, available at: Healthychildren.org