Between their first and second birthdays, children

★ Are self-centered;

★ Like to imitate the sounds and actions of others (for example, by repeating words that parents and others say and by pretending to do housework or yard work with adults);

★ Want to be independent and to do things for themselves;

★ Have short attention spans if they are not involved in an activity that interests them;

★ Add variations to their physical skills (for example, by walking backwards);

★ Begin to see how they are like and unlike other children;

★ Play alone or alongside other toddlers;

★ Increase their spoken vocabularies from about 2 or 3 words to about 250 words and understand more of what people say to them;

★ Ask parents and others to read aloud to them, often requesting favorite books or stories; and

★ Pretend to read and write the way they see parents and others do. Between their second and third birthdays, children

★ Become more aware of others;

★ Become more aware of their own feelings and thoughts; 

★ Are often stubborn and may have temper tantrums; 

★ Able to walk, run, jump, hop, roll and climb; 

★ Expand their spoken vocabularies from about 250 to 1,000 words during the year;

★ Put together 2-, 3- and 4-word spoken sentences;

★ Begin to choose favorite stories and books to hear read aloud;

★ Begin to count;

★ Begin to pay attention to print, such as the letters in their names;

★ Begin to distinguish between drawing and writing; and

★ Begin to scribble, making some marks that are like letters.
 

Resource: www.ed.gov