This is a month of exciting progress. Walking has improved and children can now walk in various directions – forward, backwards, sideways – and they tend to fall less. Some children make their first attempts at running short distances.

They can build towers of 3 or 4 blocks and can cover or uncover containers of different shapes with low-pressure lids. They may attempt to draw vertical lines, although some children may take a couple of additional months to do this.

Their repertoire of words usually includes between 10 and 20 adjectives, verbs and nouns. Some children begin to put two words together to form simple phrases. They can maintain their attention for a little longer, allowing them to follow a short narration or story.

They don’t yet play interactively with other children and do not share their toys, but they are more open to play alongside them (parallel play). They enjoy various social games with adults, such as imitation and chasing games. They also engage in more elaborate play, for example feeding their teddy bear or cooing to their doll to put it to sleep.

They are able to play alone for a few minutes, but many children still show separation anxiety, which usually begins to gradually decrease after this month.