You help your son blow out his first birthday candle and Great Aunt Lilly proclaims, "He's a toddler now " Not so fast The period between 12 and 18 months places a child on a one-way bridge to the future. Infancy is a thing of the past, and toddlerhood is straight ahead. A baby still? Not really, but neither is he a toddler; and that is the key to understanding this phase of growth. Take a couple of photos, because the child leaving infancy will not resemble the child entering toddlerhood six months down the road. This is a period of metamorphosis when his potential for learning seems limitless, his budding curiosity unquenchable and his energy level steadily growing.

This is also a period of great exchange: baby food is exchanged for table food; the highchair for booster seat; finger feeding replaced with spoon; babbling sounds will transition to speaking; the first unsteady steps are conquered by strides of confidence, and the list goes on.