When could your toddler jump?

[Teeki]

DD does swimming lessons for ages 18 months - 3 years, and every child there does a proper jump into the pool. DD waits on the side no matter how much I coax her in, watches the others jump, then waits for the instructor to call her in (I think she's a bit of a show pony lol). But she can't actually jump yet, so she bends her knees, pushes up on to her toes, throws her arms up and chest out and just kind of falls forward in slow motion.

On the one hand it's hilarious, the look on her face is like "I'm flying!" but on the other hand the poor bugger is belly flopping every time if I don't catch her before she hits the water - which I'm not supposed to do, she should be jumping in and swimming to me.

She's a lot smaller than the other kids there so I think maybe she's just younger than them, but does anyone have any clues as to when I can expect the poor thing to stop belly flopping and actually jump?

[Santosha]

DD could jump with both feet by about 20 months but I remember that she was the only one in our mother's group who could do it at the time. DS is 19 months and waaay off - still does the little tippy-toe thing you describe and 'trots' around the trampoline. Soooooo cute!

From my very brief research, this looks like a skill that is likely to be developing for most around age 2.

[wysiwyg]

Does she jump on ground normally? My DS who is just a bit younger than your DD has only really just started jumping on the ground - and he does what you say on steps, walls - from the top bunk! etc not sure about the swimming pool - my DD on the other hand probably never jumped just on land till 2.5 and still is not great at it in the swimming pool (although we aren't doing lessons at the moment).

So I can't really answer your question about when might start jumping but my DS would be the same at the pool I am sure. What does the instructor think?

[Teeki]

Yeah, it sure is cute She'll be 2 in June, so I'm thinking she'll get there soon enough - she sure is trying hard anyway!

Thanks

Edit: wysiwyg, no she can't jump at all, but she practices on the bed and can get her feet up there is I'm holding her hand. The instructor just says to hold her hands and lift her up when we're on the platform thing, and catch her from the side of the pool. She took us down the shallow end a few times, and asked the kids all to jump - because of the weightlessness she actually jumped properly on her own for the first time. The look on her face was priceless!

[~Hestia~]

I actually just watched a video recording of when Moo first starting jumping on land, he was 2 years 4 months. He was scared of the water so don't know if he would have been able to jump from an edge at the same age.

[grub17]

haha that sounds very cute!
DD jumped around 18 months or so... but one of our friend's daughters still wasn't jumping til she was over 3 years! On the other hand she has really advanced language skills.
So your dd can't jump yet, bet she can do other things a lot better than "average". Courses for horses and all that! (a make sure you video it for a giggle at her 21st!)

[Artechim]

DS was right around his second birthday because I was watching him on the trampoline a couple of days after DD1 was born. DD2 was about a month before she turned two. DD2 is 19 months and still jumps without any lift.

[chody47]

DD was a bit off two, maybe 21/22 months???

[Arcadia]

Dd was almost three before she could properly jump on land. She used to belly flop into the pool too.

Ds was jumping at around 20 months.

[xXHopeXx]

I didn't realise but dd is quite ahead in this aspect she's been starting to jump since about 14-15 months. That was the little baby jumps where her feet barely left the ground. Now she's 26months and jumps very very well. Especially on trampolines, which are her current obsession lol

[Teeki]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it could be anywhere between now and three lol. She is trying though, so I'll just keep stopping her from belly flopping in the meantime.

[LimeSlice]

DD1 just before her second birthday; DD2 was jumping on the ground by 20 months. They both walked very early too, so maybe that makes a difference?

I'm sure she will get there on her own time, though, keep encouraging her and she will get the hang of it. DD1 was reluctant to jump into water at swimming lessons too despite being able to quite happily jump around everywhere else.

HTH

[Butterfly Dawn]

DD is born in June and does the tip toe thing. She'd like to jump but cant work it out just yet.
The belly flop sounds very cute

[Artechim]

Coincidentally, just today DD2 (almost 19 months) has started to get a tiny bit of air when she jumps. She thinks she is awesome lol.

[Calluna]

Ds was around 2.5 I think. He didn't walk until about 18months though.

[onthefly]

I think DS was about 3, can't really remember. DD can't. She's not even close

[lyra stardust]

DS was just over 3. I would have been worried but he's been later end of normal for all gross motor skills (crawled at 10 months, walked at 16.5 months) so by that time I figured he'd get there in the end.. which he did. As a pp said, he's early with lots of other stuff so it's just him. He always looked out of place in swimming lessons too which I didn;t like, did a belly flop too. Now he jumps amazingly and swims like a fish too! (nearly 3.5). It's hard but try not to compare to what other kids can do. haha wish i could have taken my own advice and saved myself a lot of stress!