My son will be 2 in a month. There have been several periods during this year span from 12-24 months where he has been difficult, fussy, and clingy. I would say these are wonder weeks, but the book stops at 13 months. In the back of the book, it does mention that children will still continue to have wonder weeks though out their childhood. It lists that toddlers will hit a wonder week at 64 weeks (~15-16 months) and again at 75 weeks (~18 months). I also think that toddlers hit an other wonder week around 22-24 months. I am going to discuss what was going on with my son during these developmental stages and I hope it will help you to figure out your own child’s developmental changes and needs.
Wonder Week 64 (~15-16 Months)
During this wonder week, my son was only saying a few words (5 words at most). His receptive language skills were decent, but we still have difficulties trying to communicate certain things to my son. He got easily frustrated because he did not know how to tell us what he wanted or he did not understand what we were saying or asking of him. His sleep prior to this wonder week was great. He slept from 8pm-7am and a 3 hour nap during the day. During this wonder week, my son started to wake a few times in the night and cry, wake up earlier in the morning around 6-6:30am, and his naps were disrupted by waking mid nap and crying or taking a shorter nap. He seemed to whine a lot more and just want me to play with him non-stop. His independent play was just not as good.
After the the wonder week was over, things improved. His sleep went back to 11 hours at night and 3 hour naps. He was not waking up randomly and crying anymore. His receptive and expressive language improved. He was able to follow several step command such as, pick up the cars, put the cars in the box, and then put the box away. He was saying more words and that made his ability to communicate his needs easier for him. He went back to contently playing with his toys solo and independently. He also had less tantrums.
Wonder Week 75 (~18 Months)
During this wonder week, he was horrible!!! During 17-18 months we was a wreck. His sleep went back to being terrible with multiple wake ups in the middle of the night and shorter naps. He was SOOO clingy and fussy. I could hardly get anything done because he just fussed and followed me all over the house. Again his independent play was terrible and he would cry for a great part of his independent play time. He still was not talking a whole lot at this point. He had about 1o words he could say, but that was about it. He also started to eat terribly and became very picky about what he would and would not eat. I was expecting my twins around this time too, so to be fair, I am sure that he sensed that something was about to change.
After this wonder week, Cooper’s language totally took off. He started to repeat everything we said. His vocabulary went from 10 words to who knows how many. It seemed he was saying a new word every day. He understood us even better and for the first time he was able to respond to simple yes and no questions verbally. This made our life so much easier and helped to cut down on the frustration Cooper was experiencing from not being able to communicate effectively to us. His fine motor skills also improve and was able to color easier with markers and crayons. He started to eat better as well. He was so pleasant to be around. He would play independently without complaint as well.
Wonder Week 22-24 Months
During this wonder week, again Cooper had the typical wonder week symptoms. Poor eating, poor sleep (but not as bad in past wonder weeks), poor independent play. But the most difficult symptom was tantrums. His mood would flip flop in an instant. He would go from happy to totally upset and crying. He had a hard time if he did not get his way right away. He also go frustrated when he was playing and something did not work out the way he wanted it to. He spent a lot of time in time out during this time period for tantrums or not listening to me.
After this wonder week, Cooper is back to being pleasant and easy to be around. He does not throw the same amount of tantrums. He is eating better, sleeping better, and playing better independently. The most noticable change his is language. He can now say simple phrases and sentences such as, “babies cry”, “brush my teeth”, “mama sit”, “help please”, “CooCoo (Cooper) downstairs”. This has changed the way he can communicate to my husband and I, thus, has changed his frustration level. Update: About a month after his 2nd birthday his language increase ten fold! He is talking in sentences, asking question, and is very verbal.
At every stage of these wonder weeks, something happened to my son’s language. I really think that his frustration, clingy nature was due to his frustration with language and communication. Once he was able to communicate better, things went back to a more simple and peaceful time for Cooper.
Great post – my daughter is 11 months now, and I’m so looking forward to the increased vocabulary and thus increased ability to actually communicate to her in detail.
E just went through a really fussy stage where he didn’t eat or sleep well and also wasn’t very good at playing by himself. Then last week, after it was over, I started noticing that he had tons of new words and was attempting new things. (Like walking down the steps instead of crawling. Be still my heart!) He is 18 months tomorrow so it was probably that developmental leap. I remembered that the Wonder Weeks book said that there were leaps after 12 months so I was expecting more and was thinking that it must be one. Good to know that that’s what it was.
Very interesting theory. My oldest turned 2 August 8th and just this week things have been AWFUL! Sleep has been rotten and eating has been the PITS. He has been incredibly clingy and whiny as well. His language has always been fabulous (like he says 5+ word sentences, can tell his letters and their sounds), so I am curious about the changes to come if this is a wonder week
Thanks for this post – it’s great! My (almost) 22 month old daughter woke up last week with all of her wonder week signs, and your post is ringing very true, especially the tantrum bit. I wasn’t sure what was going on because The Wonder Weeks book doesn’t go this far! I will be keen to see if your son has any more after 24 months.
This post has just made my day!! My 22 month old daughter woke up last Tuesday crying at 5:30am. She never does this. I put it down to molar teething etc. Anyway, she did this every morning for the last week! They would only stop if we picked her up and put her in our bed or rocked her. She has always been a great sleeper so you can imagine our shock with this happening. We were stumped! Anyway, she too has been aggressive, clingy, possessive these last few weeks as well. The tantrums are not too severe but she has picked up some nasty mannerisms like snatching things and saying ‘let go!’, and ‘it’s mine’ and ‘I want!’. Her language is also very good as she says 5 word sentences, can count to 10, sing songs in full in two languages, recognises letters and numbers etc. BUt I have to say this language explosion has really happened this last week or so…with her confidently singing entire songs in their complete form without prompting. This morning she woke again and the only thing that stopped her crying was milk. She then fell back to sleep for another 2 hours! She is also requesting milk all the time and throughout the day too. I put this down to a massive growth spurt and developmental spurt. Her belly is also HUGE which tells me that she is going to shoot up soon as well. So…..all I can say is that they do go through something around this age, it affects their sleep and eating, and them physically (looking chunkier?) and it is all in preparation for their inevitable growth spurt that’s about the take place.
Super post, very helpful to hear somebody else has experienced this during the 22-24 month period too. It helps even just to hear that, and to hear all the progress that happens once it’s over. I have been going around thinking, how could Wonder Weeks (the book) stop at the point it stops? The toddler wonder weeks absolutely do happen and they’re very very challenging. My normally very sweet boy is such a cranky, fussy, whining guy right now. And defiant. But yes his language is increasing too. I think you should write a book about what toddler cognitive spurts. Just call those weeks something else; coin your own phrase. Maybe Crazy Weeks. 🙂
Thanks for this post… Have been having a rather challenging/rotten time the last 4 nights and couldn’t blame it on teeth…. Suddenly thought about the wonder weeks and was so happy to google and find your post. My girl is displaying all her usual traits for a wonder week and is now 17.5 months, so fitting into the 18 month crazy week. It’s good to know that this will change sometime, hopefully soon.
Thank you. This has been the first thing i have been able to find that defines some of toddlers behaviour.It was so nice to hear that mine child is not the only one. and that it will pass. THANK YOU
Glad you found it helpful. My girls are 18 months and we were in the mist of another wonder week and I was about to loose my mind, thankfully, they are finally coming out of that wonder week. Wouldn’t you know it, they are more verbal now! WOw! Hope things turn around for your toddler soon.
Glad you found it helpful!