The Girlfriends Guide to Toddlers: A Survival Manual to the Terrible Two's (and Ones and Threes) From the First Step, the First Potty and the First Word (No) to the Last Blankie by Vicki Iovine

From the Publisher

With a combined total of over 300,000 Girlfriends' Guides in print, Vicki Iovine offers the kind of tongue-in-cheek humor and straight-from-the-hip advice that has made her one of today's most popular authorities on child rearing. Now she takes the next step in the Girlfriends series by helping mothers deal with that mysterious, baffling, often adorable and frequently alarming being their baby has become — a toddler.

Publishers Weekly

Child magazine columnist and author of several other Girlfriends' Guides, Iovine offers entertaining anecdotes and sage advice on raising kids from ages one to three. What makes Iovine an expert? The mother of four openly admits her main qualification is that she and her friends have spent many years raising their own toddlers, and she states that her advice--anecdotal and emotional--isn't endorsed by medical professionals or nutritionists ("we [Iovine and her girlfriends] don't know our enzymes from our electrolytes"). That said, this seasoned mom knowledgeably walks readers through the toddler trenches, covering such age-appropriate concerns as potty training, play dates, sleep and eating habits--with an emphasis on how mothers can cope. Though Iovine is witty, she can also be philosophical and sentimental, as when she talks about what a toddler really is (somewhere between a baby and a child) or about how--for mothers--a child's "first cut is really the deepest." Iovine's fans will be delighted with this latest volume in the Girlfriends' series, and new mothers warily approaching their child's toddlerhood will find that Iovine's take on these challenging years is as reasonable as that of any "expert"--and quite a bit funnier. (Feb.)

Product Details

• ISBN: 039952438X
  
• ISBN-13: 9780399524387
• Format: Paperback, 288pp
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Pub. Date: January 1999
• Sales Rank: 15,004

• Table of Contents
• Interviews & Essays
• Forewords & Introductions
• Read an Excerpt
• Read a Sample Chapter

Table of Contents

Interviews & Essays

Vicki Iovine: I am tired as usual and getting ready for yet another birthday party.

Vicki Iovine: I plan to keep writing them until I am so brain-dead that I can't notice what is happening to me. The reason I wrote these books is because 99 percent of the true wisdom I have heard about parenting, and even enjoying it, has come from mothers who have been there and done that.

Vicki Iovine: There are times right now when I wish my pacifier still held its magic. I know mothers hate to see their children with a plug, but don't look at breaking the plug habit, consider seeing why your child needs that extra comfort. When the comfort is there, the plug will go.

Vicki Iovine: It is my next book, but I will share some now. Five is the age of climbing, breaking bones, and getting feelings hurt. Five-year-olds are old enough to have joined society, with all its glory and gloom. You are as apt to have a five year old come home from school in tears because so and so wasn't nice to him on the playground as you are to get a call from the school nurse. Very complex little people -- five year olds. By the way, the wonder of daddies is that they can introduce the element of risk taking on their watch.

Vicki Iovine: This is an age-old story. I wish I had a dollar for every preschool teacher or babysitter who told me my children were perfect angels around them yet acted satanic around me. Here is my suggestion: Part of this is a phase in which a child is testing to make a split from the single person he relies on most, namely Mom. Without diminishing your role, Grandma, he still needs to work out this most basic kind of independence with the woman who brought him into this world. Poor Mom.

Vicki Iovine: I don't know. In all honesty, I keep telling my children, the oldest of whom is 11, that I still haven't decided whether I believe in spanking or not, so they better watch out. So far, spanking has not been the form of discipline in our home, but that is more because it is my husband's tradition and I feel this has to be a family decision. According to my father, who spanked me three times, spanking is not to teach a lesson, but to get the children's attention so that then you can teach the lesson. It seems to me that the spanking part can be left out if you go to the trouble of removing your child from the offending situation and having your conversation seriously and with consequences. For example, a quick dash to the laundry room, a very serious "no way," and the taking away of a Teletubby video all in one motion tends to work magic around here.

Vicki Iovine: Boy, does John Andrews sound like a lot of toddlers I know, four of whom I have mothered. My advice for you is twofold: First, trust me when I tell you that your beautiful boy will thrive and grow and become increasingly intelligent on a diet of pastina and French toast because this doesn't last forever. Second, here is a secret: Make a vegetable stock or a vegetable/chicken stock with all of the leftovers in the fridge, stew them all day on a low heat in a soup pot. Right before dinner, when the vegetables and chicken are limp, scoop them out carefully and throw them in the trash. The good stuff is in the water. Make your pastina with that. You will feel like the angels have sung in your kitchen, I promise.

Vicki Iovine: What a difficult position you are in, Megan, because clearly the family has its rules and it is inappropriate for you to change them, no matter how ridiculous they seem to you now. You can, however, feel free to experiment with creative omelettes, or a veggie burger, or even some peas and carrots, and I guarantee if you succeed the mom will be grateful. Unfortunately, this mothering business is a lot easier to criticize from the outside in. My advice to you is pay attention and learn from other people what you think is appropriate parenting so when you have your kids, you might be able to get it a little more right.

Vicki Iovine: Betty, thank you so much for this opportunity to let you and all the other mommies who are my extended girlfriends know how deeply I appreciate your support. If I didn't have these four kids, and an incredibly high-maintenance husband, I would try to write to each and every one of you. As it is, I still haven't begun my thank-you's for Christmas yet. In the meantime, know that I read all of my letters and practically feel I know your babies. And I love you all.

Vicki Iovine: Jackie, you may not believe this, but there is actually value in numbers at this age. The kids are not so much interested in sightseeing the Natural History museum for the 30th time as they are in figuring out their place in society. Organize play dates for your kids. I have four children and I guarantee it is easier for me and I also work in my home when there are eight children here. Sure, it takes some extra supervision, but you almost never hear anybody say those dread words, "Mommie, I am so bored."

Vicki Iovine: When toddlers have accidents at night, I don't call it bed-wetting, I call it incomplete potty training. I save the concerns about bed-wetting for the seven, eight, or nine year olds, at which time it is a medical problem best dealt with by your pediatrician -- but back to your toddler. You may be right, that getting you to come in and clean a wet bed looks just like a midnight party to a person only two feet tall. So here are my recommendations: First, stop all liquids after dinner. Second, make sure you have protected that mattress with a waterproof pad. Third, keep the bed-wetting change ritual to a minimum. In other words, no conversation, don't remake the entire bed (put a beach towel down on the wet spot) or better still put a pull up on the child until he stays dry through the night for at least a week. After all, we moms need our beauty sleep too. Besides, I promise he won't be wearing a pull up to college.

Vicki Iovine: First, trust me when I say no parents are completely in sync about the raising of their children. Parenting, like everything else in marriage, is an endless series of compromises. Try to find the time to explain to your husband that while you understand how distracting toddler clutter can be, you would rather focus on reading PAT THE BUNNY to your little one. Then pop him in a playpen while you pull out the Lysol; perhaps he can check in with a little bit of the cleanup (in your dreams), or why don't you compromise by designating one part of your home "Daddy's area" and try to keep it a "child-free zone?" It may just be the bathroom, but hey, he should go in, lock the door, and knock himself out.

Vicki Iovine: I adore Barney and Teletubbies. I don't think I could have balanced my checkbook or returned any calls for four years of my life if it had not been for the free babysitting offered by these fuzzy friends.

Vicki Iovine: It is certainly the most physically taxing. And it is astonishing to watch a little person who was previously a dependent and adoring little infant morph into a child with opinions and the ability to run faster than you. In retrospect, however, it was one of the more magical times of parenting and I mean that literally. I adored having children who believed that I could kill any monster, that I was the prettiest lady they had ever seen, and that Santa was as real as the nose on my face.

Vicki Iovine: The big decision for me was what the child did after they fell out of the crib. Did they immediately run for the kitchen and grab a sharp object? Did they nurse their wounds in the bedroom or did they come straight to me? If their behavior was somewhat safe, I think he or she should be introduced to a bed. After all, it is a lot shorter way to fall, but don't assume that the switch will be simple and without setbacks. Change of any kind is met with a weary eye by toddlers. So there will be a few sleepless nights for both of you; in the meantime, may I suggest that you pave the way by starting to talk about it in a casual way, once every day or two. You might even go so far as to sit down with a mail-order catalogue and let your toddler pick out sheets for the big kid bed when it comes.

Vicki Iovine: I presume your nanny isn't as afraid of crying as you are, they rarely are. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume the nanny puts the baby down at the same time every day and tells the baby to take a nap. Not a bad concept. Perhaps the child knows that tears break your heart and you will come in and rescue him eventually. It is up to you if you want to challenge that notion.

Vicki Iovine: Thank you for the nice words. Here are a few of my survival kicks: When you feel like drop-kicking the toddler, put her in a playpen or on the floor (in a secluded area), then pick out the most rocking dance CD you own, put it on to just short of deafening level, and start dancing. Dance with the baby or without the baby. Sing, scream! Another trick is to get outside. Cabin fever is a big complaint of moms of toddlers. Go for a brisk walk or go for a drive. Third thing, eat something -- you may be getting hypoglycemic and may not know it. Mothers cannot survive off of leftover tater tots. Fourth, call a girlfriend with a toddler and beg her to come over this minute. The toddlers can go after each other and the two of you can have some tea and gripe; it does wonders for the mood. By the way, along that line, I joined every parent-taught-mommie-and-me group in my neighborhood, not for the kids but so I would be surrounded by understanding women, and it worked like a charm.

Vicki Iovine: My mantra these days is to try to treasure the special moments when I am experiencing them, not when I am watching the home videos in ten years. I will let you know how I do; in the meantime, keep reading.

Forewords & Introductions

With her Girlfriends' Guides, Iovine has assisted hundreds of thousands of women with pregnancy and the first year of motherhood, and now, with The Girlfriends' Guide To Toddlers, she shares her strategies for the next challenging stage of a mother's life. Iovine offers secrets for surviving toddlerhood with the toddler and mother still intact, providing invaluable guidance and advice -- based on her own experiences and those of her girlfriends -- with her trademark dose of humor.

Read an Excerpt

Babyproofing

If this is your first child, you, like my Girlfriends and I, probably began babyproofing your home before the baby was even born. Who could resist the fun of preparing your home in every single way? It was kind of like decorating the nursery or washing the layette with Dreft. By the time the baby was about seven months old, however, you might have broken a few of the cabinet locks in the kitchen or even removed the clasp on the toilet lid after too many times nearly wetting yourself before you got it up.

It turns out that babyproofing is a never-ending process. Some things just break from overuse, and other things the toddler outsmarts and infiltrates, like the slide-and-turn covers on electrical sockets or the rubber sleeves with animal faces that we put on the bathtub spouts. Thank heavens the babyproofing industry recognizes this evolutionary process and responds to our needs with new products on a regular basis. For example, when my first toddler was toddling, no one had even heard of a VCR protector. The outcry from mothers who had discovered that toddlers love sliding anything from toast to TV remotes into that enticing opening inspired a great addition to the toddler artillery.

The lesson to be learned here is that you must never get too complacent about your child's safety because he is developing so quickly. I wish I had a dollar for every mother whose child locked her out of her car by pushing that little button down in the moment between when she fastened him into his carseat and tried to open the door for herself. One minute they seem to be content to play patty-cake with their hands and the next they are using a spoon as a tool to open up the back of your clock radio. This is where recognizing your own toddler's particular taste can give you a bit of an edge. If, like Sonia, you have a water lover, make it a house rule that no one ever leaves the bathroom door open, whether in use or not. If you have a cabinet/drawer fetishist, double up on your safety by both installing babyproofing latches and removing anything that would harm her if she should figure out how to open that latch (and you know she will).

In most cities large enough to warrant their own airport, you will find several professional babyproofing companies listed in those giveaway parenting magazines or the Yellow Pages. While the pros are more expensive than buying the stuff at your local Home Depot and installing it yourself, they do render a service beyond convenience in that they know more toddler tricks than you do. They can walk in and assess your home with a professional eye that you might not yet possess. I, for one, would never have known the value of the device that protects the stove top from little hands wanting to grab pot handles if a professional hadn't shown me. You might argue that it's overkill and that babyproofing companies are in the business to frighten you and convince you that your entire home needs to be surrounded by bubble wrap, but I'm a paranoid kind of gal and I'll buy whatever protection I can afford.

If you opt to go the do-it-yourself route with the babyproofing, start with a manual or guide from your local bookstore, library or pediatrician's office. It will provide a general inventory of the basics any toddler home should have to keep stitches and scalds to a bare minimum. Make sure you install everything properly and then test that it works by inviting a friend or mate to try to outsmart it. If an educated adult cannot lift the toilet seat without five minutes of verbal instruction, then you might be able to keep an eighteen-month-old out until his second birthday.

After all the protection is installed, don't sabotage your efforts by getting lazy. Yes, we all know that you can break a nail opening a vanity drawer equipped with a babyproof lock, but isn't your child's safety worth an extra manicure now and then? (Besides, Girlfriend, what are you doing with nice nails at a frantic time like this, anyway?) I know how busy and exhausted you are as the mother of a toddler, but this is really a time when cleaning up after yourself is critical. What good is it to have a locked cabinet for potential poisons if you forget to put your nail polish remover in that cabinet after your manicure? Always assume that the little shadow will find the most toxic or sharp or hot thing in the house if you don't throw it out, lock it up or keep it on the top of your highest shelf.

God Gives You a Free One

I don't have a shred of scientific evidence to support this claim, but my Girlfriends and I have experienced this phenomenon enough to believe in its truth. What we have experienced, and are eternally grateful for, is that when we slipped up in our vigilance as parents and disaster was a heartbeat away, Divine Intervention saved our asses, but only on the condition that we learn from that mistake and never make it again. My first experience with this was when my first toddler grabbed my full coffee mug off the table while I was on the phone. As if in agonizingly slow motion, I watched from across the room as the mug tipped and coffee washed over my little darling's head and into his face. I felt like fainting, but instead I leaped to him and grabbed him up, only to discover that the coffee was cold. See, that was a free one. I can't even bring myself to consider how badly this could have turned out if he had found that mug an hour earlier, but I can tell you this, that toddler is now ten years old, and I still won't allow myself to leave a cup of coffee on a table or counter.

Dearest Sonia's first experience of getting a free one came with her three-year-old son, Jon. She went into her bathroom to find him with a pill bottle in his hand and a mouth full of pills. She simultaneously grabbed the bottle and swiped her other hand through Jon's mouth to get the pills out. Naturally, at a moment like this, her brain was spinning so fast that she was barely able to focus on the words on the pill bottle, but she finally made out the word fluoride. She had been giving her son supplements on the advice of her dentist, and he evidently had taken a liking to them. Not knowing whether fluoride was toxic in large doses, Sonia and Jon made a mad dash to the pediatrician where Jon was pronounced "just fine." But Sonia and the rest of us Girlfriends knew what forces were at work here: God had given her a free one and she never even left tasty toothpaste out in the bathroom again until Jon was in the double digits.

Since the fundamental rule of parenting is that perfection is unattainable, there will come a time, or two, when your little tyke will get into trouble that you know you could have prevented. He will run into the street or open a bottle of window cleaner or slip his head between the fence and the side of the house and get stuck there. Your heart will seize, you will mentally take the calamity to its worst possible conclusion, which is always death, and something divine will intervene to save you. Never, ever take this intervention for granted, because it is precious and has a price. You must get right to the brink of disaster, feel the agony, and then come back from the precipice with a new resolve to pay better attention to protecting your toddler.

What About the Ones That Aren't Free?

You can never rely on the free one, and there will be times that something actually does penetrate your security and hurts your toddler. Ask any Girlfriend who has mothered a toddler, and she will have stories of fingers pinched in car doors, stitches on foreheads and above eyes, and goose eggs on the head. Toddlers are everywhere and into everything, and their bodies are often not up to the challenges their little minds set for them. It can be shocking to a mother who is new to the toddling ranks just how often her child hurts herself. In the beginning they fall every thirty seconds, usually into a coffee table or the leg of a desk. Later, they will have better balance, but they will be falling nearly as often because of the more challenging obstacle courses they've set up for themselves.

Aside from normal vigilance and babyproofing there are two types of preventable injuries to toddlers that we Girlfriends feel you should know about. We single them out because they can be avoided entirely once you know them and because we have seen them occur so darn many times that they're almost boring in their predictability.

Our Furry Friends

The first preventable and predictable injury is a dog bite. If you read The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood, you know how little I trust even the oldest, gentlest, most beloved family pooch where a baby or toddler is concerned. It's not that I don't love dogs; I do and I have two myself. It's just that I have seen or heard of so many otherwise trustworthy dogs taking a bite out of a toddler's face. You can't really blame the dog, since a toddler often acts just like another animal in the house. Toddlers will play with the dog's food bowl, stick pencils in its ears, pull its lips up to show his "smile" or any of a million other indignities. Who wouldn't bite back?

I think the single best explanation for all these dog bites in the face is that dogs are pack animals whose nature is to express dominance to all weaker dogs. If your toddler runs up to a dog, he is pretty sure to face it eye to eye (since they are both about two feet tall), and he will violate the dog's space. Before you can blink an eye, the dog has snapped. Teach your toddlers that they should never, ever approach a dog tied up outside Starbucks or walking down the sidewalk. This will be excruciatingly difficult for some moms because lots of toddlers find all animals irresistible, but other moms of toddlers who are afraid of dogs should find it much easier. And as for family dogs, always be prepared for them to lose their minds, too. I don't care how much you adore and trust them, don't be silly about it to the point where you leave the dog and toddler alone together, even for a moment.

I can't just leave well enough alone with dogs, either. Cats, hamsters and parakeets are also big toddler biters. Rare is the three-year-old who can cradle a rodent gently in its hands or carry a cat without dragging its hind legs on the ground, and this kind of cavalier behavior tends to bring out the worst in wildlife. Especially when the pet is in a shop or at a Playdate's house and your toddler is unfamiliar with its care and handling, you're asking for trouble if your child is allowed to get to know the family pet without any close parental supervision. I may sound harsh, Girlfriend, but that's my job.

<%=fontsmall%>Copyright © 1999 by Vicki Iovine. Used by permission of The Berkley Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Read a Sample Chapter

Chapter One

Who Are These People, Anyway?

Mother Nature really is so damned smart to give you your child in infant form first: There might not have been quite so many takers if she were handing out toddlers. Not that toddlers aren't adorable and captivating; it's just that it's hard to imagine devoting your life to a person who breaks your things, eats with her hands and hurls herself onto the floor if she doesn't get her way if you aren't already hopelessly devoted to the little tyrant. It was awfully nice planning on somebody's part to give you about a year to get to know your baby in a somewhat calm and orderly fashion. As an infant, she may have wreaked havoc with your sleep patterns, she may have nursed till you thought your breasts would fall off, and she may have left you with ten pounds you have no use for but she probably cooperated most of the time. You dressed her how and when you wanted. You put her in her bouncy chair or on a blanket or the floor. You fed her what you felt was best for her and she generally accepted it graciously. But did you get down on your knees and thank your lucky stars every day that you had such a gift? Oh, no. You, like all the rest of us, just wouldn't keep the lid on Pandora's box.

The Race to Walk

    You were probably getting so confident about your mothering abilities around the ninth or tenth month that you started hungering for bigger challenges. All your little one had to do was push to a stand one day while you held her in your lap, and ZOOM, you were off to the toddler races.Her walking not only seemed like an exciting new developmental stage for your child, it became your personal goal, too. Admit it, Girlfriend! You may not have pressured her; you may not have let her know in any overt way that the exhilarating feeling of achievement her first two steps gave you rivaled that of any climber to reach Everest. You and your mate may have tried not to squeal and slap high fives every time she bravely let go of the coffee table to tumble toward the middle of the living room; nonetheless, she got the message she was doing something that rang your chimes. Think about it; isn't your lower back out of whack to this day from all the mileage you put in walking bent over behind your toddler and holding her upright hands while she swayed about on pigeon-toed feet? You may have taken the consumer's digest advice against baby walkers, but I bet you bought at least one push-along toy that helped her stay balanced while moving upright (you know the ones, shaped like mini shopping carts—like babies have so much marketing to do).

Walking Separates the Toddlers from the Babies

    Sure, the other baby milestones were fun, especially if sleeping through the night was one of them, but really, how many of us sent telegrams when our kids rolled over for the first time? Walking, however, is the lollapalooza of baby achievements. Even if you didn't know that when you first signed up for this parenting job, you learned it soon enough; every parent of a baby over ten months of age is asked, "So, how's the baby? Is he walking yet?" As the mother of four kids who preferred sitting to walking for at least a year each, I felt a stab every time I was asked that question. With the first two kids, I lied and told anyone not likely to visually verify my statement, that they were ready to take off "any minute now." I guess I felt that my baby's failure to walk early was an indication that the mothering I was giving him wasn't nearly as enriching and, well, good, as I thought it should be. By the time the other two came along, however, the older toddlers had robbed me of my innocence about the beauty of walking. If anyone asked me then if my babies were walking yet, I was just as likely to snarl, "They would be if I ever took them out of their blanket sleepers.... "But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

    When your baby did finally master two-footed locomotion, either in spite of or because of your encouragement, it was a transcendent event. Angels were heard to sing on high, grandparents were called (as were a couple of the other mommies in your baby group; okay, maybe you gloated a little), videos and photos were shot! Your little darling had achieved his destiny and fulfilled your wishes and dreams for him—he crossed over from the world of baby to the world of toddler, ON HIS OWN TWO FEET! What on earth were you thinking?

Which Years Are the Toddler Years?

    Child development authorities differ greatly on what exactly constitutes a toddler. This is understandable because a one-year-old waddling around in a diaper doesn't appear to have much in common with a lightning-fast three-year-old preschooler (even if he, too, is still wearing a diaper). Keep in mind that at the beginning of this little life era known as toddlerhood, your child won't yet be able to talk, but by the time he is ready for preschool, he will probably be fluent enough to share all of the most intimate details of your home life with all the kids at preschool. At the beginning of toddlerhood, he will probably walk with his arms held out to the side or up in the air for balance, as if all walking surfaces were tightrope wires, and by the end he will be a perpetual motion machine, running, unlocking, opening and closing, jumping and falling until he passes out. If you end up with a three-year-old like my Girlfriend Shelly's son, Bentley, you won't only be chugging after a runner, you'll be calling the fire department to get your climber down from the top of the pergola at the community center.

The Girlfriends' Definition of Toddlers

    For the purposes of The Girlfriends' Guide to Toddlers, we will focus on those little people whose abilities range from just learning to walk unassisted (about one year old) to those who are negotiating the challenges of preschool (three-year-olds in all their glory). In other words, most of our anecdotes and advice will focus on those fascinating creatures between the ages of one and one day shy of their fourth birthday. Pediatricians and other authorities will certainly have more exacting criteria, but my Girlfriends and I have noticed that even a one-year-old who is barely toddling can exhibit those charming particular personality quirks of toddlerhood, and some of our most cherished three-and-a-half-year-olds are still reluctant to let go of such toddler souvenirs as binkies, bankies and Pull-Ups.

    After years of watching all our babies enter toddlerhood and come out on the other side, the Girlfriends and I have identified what we think are the behaviors and concerns that make toddlers toddlers:

    1. The struggle for independence is the hallmark of this entire age group. Walking is the first step in that direction (yeah, pun) because it manifests the child's very real ability to leave its mommy or other symbol of safety and security. Your little one spends much of his toddlerhood experimenting with leaving you. Don't cry, Mommy; they almost always come back! Whether they have just toddled into another part of the house where you can't see them or they have just waved goodbye to you for their first unchaperoned day of preschool, they are learning to separate. We Girlfriends will remind you now and several more times in the Guide that the goal is to raise a child who can eventually enter the world without you in tow—that's why they invented Miami—the all-American reward for a parenting job well done.

    The universal toddler declaration of independence is the phrase "I do myseff!" You can be late for the most important appointment of your life (like getting your tubes tied), and your usually compliant toddler will pick that moment to demonstrate his ability to squeeze toothpaste onto his toothbrush and clean his teeth ALL BY HIMSELF. This desire for mastery, terrific though it may be in concept, can be counted on to add a good five to ten minutes to the task of getting out of your driveway. This, too, is part of that independence business, and it is sure to affect your life in several ways (like migraines and chronic tardiness, in my case).

    2. The most dramatic bursts of development you and your child will experience occur during these three years. Think of it this way: Like a flower, an infant grows and blossoms in a sort of slow, constant progression. Its muscular development is greater with every day. Its hair gradually thickens and grows longer. Even the acts of rolling over and sitting up tend to be progressive and predictable to us eagle-eyed mommies. (But that doesn't mean you are guaranteed a divine prediction of when that first roll will be, so for you moms of toddlers-to-be who are reading ahead, NEVER leave your baby unattended on the bed or changing table.)

    On the other hand, a toddler can best be compared to a box of fireworks with a spark loose inside. One minute the two of you can be quietly reading a picture book about animals together, and the next a Roman candle seems to go off in his head and he becomes a kind of animal himself, one that scratches and bites. For six straight days he will spend all his play hours with the Little Tykes kitchen you bought him, then, on the seventh day, he will move the entire kitchen across the room and place it directly under the cuckoo clock your grandmother gave you, and you will walk in to find him balanced on one foot on top of the plastic microwave with his fat little hand around the poor cuckoo's throat.

    Cause and effect, at least as we overtired and overwrought mothers know them, have little relevance in the toddler world. Their minds seem to jump around so quickly, usually dragging their moods with them, that their little brains should smoke from all the short-circuiting going on in them. When it all gets to be too mind-bending for even your toddler to tolerate, she will blow a gasket altogether and flip out with one of those tantrums that her generation is so famous for.

    This is also the age when a toddler, like Cro-Magnon Man, learns to use tools. Don't hold your breath waiting for him to build you a new deck or kitchen cabinets, but be prepared for your VCR to be "repaired" several times, for all bureau drawers to be liberated from their tracks and for your car keys to end up in the sandbox, where they were employed for digging tunnels for your automatic garage door opener to drive through. Whether you are the mother of a younger toddler, who would stick a fork in a light socket on sheer whim given half a chance, or of an older toddler, who is able to hit a ball with a bat or connect all the flowers in your wallpaper with a box of push pins, you will find that "tools" are a defining aspect of toddlerhood. And, if you'll excuse this bit of gender bias, if you have a boy toddler, he may find that his most favorite tools are those that can be used as weapons, which includes nearly everything.

    3. Children in this age group are "changelings." Stop by any parent-tot gathering, and you will be sure to hear a mother declare that her toddler has more personalities than Congress. Are they babies? Are they children? Are they human? Well, the answers to these questions are yes and no. What they really are are creatures petitioning to become children, but who haven't given up their membership in the baby world.

    First of all, just look at them to see how truly in-between they are. Their feet are almost perfect rectangles and their toes look like decorative fringe rather than functional balancing appendages. They often use their hands as if they were brooms or shovels, swiping and grasping things like a bear going through a picnic basket. It's only toward the end of toddlerhood that most kids can control their fingers accurately enough to pinch their baby sister's cheek or use scissors to give themselves a haircut. And speaking of hair, at the beginning of toddlerhood, many of these little tykes still have that wispy growth that sentimental mothers hate to cut, but by preschool most of them actually have enough "human" hair to snarl, tangle and be the final resting place for cookie crumbs and finger paints.

    With really young toddlers, this period of being neither fish nor fowl is usually only moderately confusing because you can be pretty safe treating them like big babies most of the time. But by around eighteen months, your luck generally has run out. By then, they are such an amalgam of curiosity, energy, frustration, boldness and insecurity that they don't know whether to spit or wind their watch, as my father used to say. (Or Something like that.) And there you stand, just dying to help in some way, and not knowing how to get in. Is a hug the answer? Is a firm "no" the answer? Or should you just turn and run the other way? The Girlfriends and I maintain that this critical period is second only to pregnancy in the amount of brain damage a mother sustains. It's a constant source of wonder to me that you don't see more mothers lying on the floor of Costco, kicking and screaming right alongside their toddlers, since their frustration levels must surely be just as high.

    Simplistic as it sounds, the time of day can be a big factor in whether your toddler is a child or a baby. In my household, toddlers were all grown up and full of fun and "I do myseff" when they were well rested, like in the morning or after a nap. Then, as the day dragged on and the frustrations mounted, my toddlers would start disintegrating right before my eyes. That often results in the one-two punch that takes all mothers out at the knees: the needs of a cranky baby colliding with Mom's need to make dinner. Even though I'm not raising toddlers these days, I still feel my shoulders tighten as the sun goes down and the local news comes on TV. It can only mean that the dinner-bath-story-drink-of-water-back-patting-stay-in-your-bed obstacle course has begun.

    4. These little people need to be guided into society (euphemism for discipline). For the first several months of life, a baby isn't faced with the burden of making decisions. She is pretty much a creature of cause (e.g., hunger) and effect (e.g., crying till somebody gives her something to eat). Walking, along with the bigger brain that comes with being a person who can do it, creates a whole new set of circumstances that can all be lumped under the heading of Choices. This is why discipline was invented by the cavewoman, to make sure that most of the choices made were acceptable to the mother. Parents of toddlers are constantly torn between being gloomy control freaks and being completely bulldozed by their child. We want them to be free-spirited, but not near the deep end of a pool. We want them to be creative, but not to blame the pet bunny for writing with Sharpies on their shirt. We want them to delight in discovering the magic of the universe, but we want them up, pottied, dressed and breakfasted before we have to leave for work.

    How does one accomplish this? Well, to be completely candid, with very mixed results, especially when this is our first run through the toddler gauntlet. Toddlers are so impetuous and unpredictable that we mothers are usually found reacting to one crisis after another rather than methodically training them to understand and adhere to a planned behavioral code. If sports analogies help you, think of yourself as playing defense against a mini Michael Jordan; it's all reaction, not action. If you occasionally feel that your best-laid plans for reasoning with your little person and helping him to cultivate a sense of freedom within a context of respect have collided head-on with a reality in which you yelp before you leap, don't take it too hard. That's usually how it goes for all of us who mother in the toddlerhood trenches.

    5. During these three years, little people learn to join the community of big people. By the time a child turns four, she is officially no longer a baby. (Even though, as all mothers recite to our children, they will always be our babies.) Most of these little darlings have an active social life, leave the house for several hours a day to do fun stuff without parents, have decided that they are going to marry Daddy and know precisely why there is a day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Heck, put a briefcase under a four-year-old's arm and put him on the subway, and he'll blend in as just another, albeit much shorter, commuter.

    Toddlers are not yet there. In order to reach that kind of competence, they have to master certain behaviors like sleeping in a bed, using the potty, and, hey, knowing how to use a fork and spoon wouldn't hurt. In the combined experience of my Girlfriends and myself, none of these milestones is achieved in a day. Not only that, once they are achieved, they can be forgotten entirely and have to be taught again, and again and, well, you get the picture.

    6. During these three years, your child gets a social life. No longer just adorable little koala bearlike appendages hanging on the mama marsupial, toddlers are literally thrusting their way into the world. It's as if there is some irresistible force pulling them away from all that is known and safe, and toward everything that vigilant mothers try to protect them against. There is something achingly symbolic about a baby's learning to walk because with that first step, they are free to walk to whomever they choose. Up until that time, we parents get to make all decisions regarding where they go and who they will meet when they get there.

    Particularly compelling to toddlers are other people, especially other very small people, and this is the source of great fun for us parents. For some reason, we moms are drunkenly enthusiastic about our babies' interest in socializing. Like manic campaign managers of miniature politicians, we become strategists for these barely verbal socialites—spending hours finding playmates for them, scheduling playdates (when in the world did that word come into vogue?), wooing the parents of potential playmates, and getting positively giddy over the giving and attending of the countless birthday, Halloween, Valentine and Groundhog Day parties that are the toddler traditions.

    As attractive as being "one of the gang" might be, learning to coexist with other little heathens can be tough for toddlers. Some kids are as gregarious as game-show hosts, and others have to be pulled screaming from their mothers and pushed into interacting. Some are naturally patient and placid, and others simply can't resist pounding on any kid within reach. Most disconcerting of all, toddlers can morph from being one kind of kid to the exact opposite, so you never know whether it's Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde you'll be letting loose on the playground.

    Helping your toddler adjust to civilization may be the hardest task you will face as a parent. It's just all so personal; love me, love my child. If our child is rejected in any way, we are usually the ones who feel the pain. If our child is the one who is careless about the feelings of others, we are the ones who feel we've failed to teach them any sense of morality. Take it from me, it's particularly difficult with your first toddler because you are so easily shocked by the assaults the world can throw in your darling's path, usually in the form of someone else's little darling. My Girlfriend Karen once called me from her car as she was speeding away from a two-year-olds' gymnastics class. One of the other gymnasts had bitten her little girl right on the face, and Karen didn't know what to do first: call the police or rush for a rabies shot. The bite alone was not what made her mental (although it would have been an acceptable defense for homicide in any mommy court in the land); it was the remark she overheard the biter's mother tell the gym teacher, "She's just overreacting because it's her only child and she doesn't know any better." The implication was clear that a more seasoned mom would take this episode in stride, apply antibiotic cream and ice and get over it. In a way, the other mother had a point, but I didn't think that our car phone conversation was the appropriate time to tell Karen. Instead, I encouraged her outrage and judged the obvious lack of parental supervision of the little heathen. It's only right that we Girlfriends should tell you; the first cut really is the deepest.

    7. Kids this age believe in magic. Reality is a very amorphous concept for a little person who is stepping out into the world for the first time. For example, few things are more wondrous to a toddler than bubbles. They really see these soapy spheres as much more fantastic creations than most adults do, and bubbles never fail to elicit screaming and laughing in a gaggle of two-year-olds. They also think blimps are creations of some wizard, as is whistling or the fact that red and blue paint mixed together makes purple.

    Not coincidentally, this is also the age when we parents start weaving our mythologies about everything from Santa to the Easter Bunny to Mommy the Monster Killer. Getting to participate in making magic is one of the greatest satisfactions of being the parent of a toddler because it wakes up and dusts off our old innocence as true believers. I'm pretty crazy about keeping up the myths, but my husband's even more obsessed than I. He actually goes outside on Christmas morning to bring in snow to sprinkle in front of the fireplace to show Santa's footprints. Normally, you couldn't get him outside in freezing predawn weather even if the house were on fire. He also tells our kids that the jelly beans on the floor on Easter morning are Easter Bunny poops. You gotta love a guy like that.

    Since the true nature of things is still largely unknown to toddlers, even ordinary phenomena like vacuum cleaners, escalators and toilets can look like big scary monsters. You only have to spend a few hours introducing your child to the toilet to be introduced to all sorts of toddler concerns, from a fear that flushing sucks children in to a worry that their beloved poo poos will drown in there and ultimately disappear. This is also the time when struggling actors dressed up as Big Bird or Barney at a toddler birthday party can send some kids running for their therapists. My daughter used to repeat like a mantra the words "It's only peetend, it's only peetend" just to endure the time all seven of Snow White's dwarfs followed her around Disneyland.

    Another aspect of this belief in magic is that toddlers affix special, feel-good powers to otherwise ordinary things, hence the devotion to the blankie or other lovey. Only a mother of a toddler can know panic in its most urgent form: when we have arrived home after a day of at least a thousand errands with toddler in tow, only to discover that the precious magic item has disappeared somewhere along the line. I have literally ripped apart the Yellow Pages in my frenzy to call everyone from the dry cleaner to the beauty supply store to the pediatrician's office to find the missing blankie before bedtime.

**By the way, take this veteran's advice and try to have doubles of any items your toddler has invested with magical powers. It can save your little darling a lot of distress and keep you from going totally gray in an afternoon.

    8. Parents of these little changelings are constantly bewildered. The stakes of rearing a human being are enormous and overwhelming for any thinking person. We frantic mothers can't help but worry that every little decision we make concerning our toddlers will cement their fate as either the next Bill Gates or the next Unabomber. There are so many bizarre child-rearing philosophies floating around that we live in abject terror that we will fail to nip thumb sucking in the bud in time to protect our baby from a future of antisocial behavior.

    Here's the news: Toddlers will learn to accomplish nearly all of the milestones that signify a successful passage through this stage all by themselves. (I know we've told you that already, but we will again, so either sigh a breath of relief or just ignore us.) You can demonstrate the function of a spoon for weeks or you can keep all spoons hidden in the drawer, and when his personal DNA says he's ready for a spoon, he'll quickly figure out how to use a spoon. Really try to hear me when I tell you that you need not teach your child to walk, to climb stairs or to drink out of a cup. There is a force of nature that compels a healthy and stimulated toddler to figure this stuff out on his own. It's that box of fireworks concept again.

    Does that mean you're not needed? Of course not. But your job is not so task-oriented as you might believe. Think of yourself as a sort of cruise director, like that bouncy woman from The Love Boat. Your job is to provide an attractive array of activities or experiences for your toddler. Taking the analogy further, you can show him where the shuffleboard is played and where the sticks are kept, but it's not up to you to repeatedly teach the proper flick of the wrist in making the shot. In fact, if your little cruiser decides to use the shuffleboard pucks as cymbals instead, that's his business. What's needed here is your applause, your encouragement and your best efforts to ensure that the voyage is as safe and loving as possible.

    Please don't think I'm suggesting that toddlers aren't paying attention to you. They are watching you with such intensity it's a wonder you don't catch fire. And here's a little parenting secret for you: they not only watch you, they WORSHIP you. This will not always be the case, so now's your window of opportunity to imprint on your little one's mind all your best habits and behaviors. They'll pick up on all that and much more. Just wait until you catch a glimpse of your toddler pretending to be you in an imaginary phone conversation—it's a hoot! But you do your best toddler teaching through being present, loving and as consistent as possible. This is something quite different from playing "Hooked on Phonics" tapes every time the two of you are in the car (as I confess I did with my oldest).

    Even if your toddler isn't delivering bon mots with the timing of Oscar Wilde, or even stringing two words together, it's time for you to learn the age-old lesson: "Little pitchers have big ears." I may not fully understand the meaning of that cliché, but I can vouch for its truth, which is: Your little one might not be talking, but she sure as heck is listening, and understanding a lot more than you know. In the big picture, it means your toddler is sponging up your "gestalt," the way you feel about her, your level of respect for your mate, the way you address tasks and your disposition. So if your darling's first complete sentence is "You're an ass!" and she says it to her father, don't spend too much time wondering where she learned such trashy talk.

    Later in toddlerhood, your little big-eared pitcher will freely march into preschool and announce that Mommy is just like Luke Skywalker because she is going to the doctor to get her face lasered. The teachers and other moms just love inside scoops like that. I, by the way, have made a pact with my children's teachers not to believe what my kids tell me about them if they promise not to believe what my kids tell them about ME.

    Kids may listen and actually understand many of the words used, but that doesn't mean they pick up the correct nuance or significance. For that reason, you have to be careful not to speak of potentially alarming topics in front of any toddler, even those who can't yet talk. Once, when my oldest was a toddler, my husband and I decided to rent the old surf movie Endless Summer. What a disaster that little trip down memory lane proved to be. Since we live near the beach, I had to spend the next month promising that no big waves were coming to get us.

Perpetual Motion Machines

    Until you have a toddler of your own, other people's stories about how traumatic it was chasing their little wobblers around sound just a tad hysterical. I mean really, how hard can it be to keep up with a tiny person whom any grown-up can outrun in a race? It's when you become the warden of a toddler yourself that you realize speed isn't the issue, it's the length of the race and the unpredictability of the terrain.

    The parents of toddlers are creatures of reaction. When the toddler is in their care, meaning not with a sitter, the grandparents or some very tolerant boarding school, the parents can do little more than run a defensive line around her; after all, she is completely capable of killing the pets, you and herself if left to her own devices. Sure, we all know the delicious moments when they cuddle in our laps to read a picture book or when they learn to sing their first song. But on any given day, most parents of toddlers will agree that a disproportionate amount of time is spent averting a disaster or cleaning up after one. This is called "spontaneity" by people who are so old that they don't really remember their own children as toddlers, but to those of us living it, it's called psychological warfare.

Born to Be Wild

    As someone who would almost always prefer sitting to standing and lying down to sitting, I'm astonished at how compelling the urge to move is in a person who has only recently learned to walk. Once they have felt the wind on their faces and the road beneath their feet, these little scramblers have two speeds, fast asleep or moving quickly. They may sit occasionally, perhaps to eat or to pull everything out of the bottom drawers in your bedroom, but even then their hands are in motion and their eyes are scanning the terrain to see where the next thrill lies.

    My husband and I are still recovering from the L.A.-New York flights we made with little people who were obsessed with walking. Traveling with babies seemed like a day at the beach by comparison. How in the world do you explain about consideration for your fellow travelers or about sudden turbulence to a child who views sitting still on a par with illegal imprisonment? Up and down the aisles we'd walk, constantly apologizing indiscriminately to everyone we met along the way. Even during those few precious moments when we succeeded in getting them to sit in a chair, they would tap their little Stride Rites against the seat back in front of them like a podiatric form of water torture. How we yearned for a child who did nothing more distressing than cry for five straight hours.