Your 28-Month-Old: Counting by Touch, Hopping, and Invented Tales
By the Growbaby team · Published Aug 4, 2026
Written against AAP, CDC and WHO guidance. How we write these guides
At a glance
- A finger touches each object as the number is said.
- Hopping is attempted, and mostly produces an enthusiastic stumble.
- Objects get sorted into color groups without needing to be named.
- Made-up stories appear, with characters who did not exist yesterday.
- The counting still tends to run ahead of, or behind, the objects.
A finger moving along a row of objects, one number per item, is the picture of this month. Counting has become physical, and the pointing is what keeps the numbers and the things lined up with each other.
Colors get matched into groups, hopping is attempted with mixed results, and stories are made up from nothing rather than borrowed from a book.
What is new this month
Pointing while counting solves a specific problem. Without a finger to hold the place, number words and objects drift apart, so the touch is a tool your child has worked out rather than a habit picked up. Numbers will still be skipped or repeated, and coordinating the two streams is exactly what is being practiced.
Matching colors is a step on from naming them. Sorting a pile into groups means comparing every item against a growing set, which is more demanding than recognizing one thing at a time, and it can be done with no color words at all. Laundry and brick boxes turn it into something useful.
Hopping is the hardest balance task so far, because the push and the landing happen on the same single leg. Most children stumble for a long while before it works, and the failed attempts are what build the strength. Invented stories show imagination running without a prompt, with characters and events coming from your child rather than a page, which is why the plots go wherever they please.
Week by week, in the app
One thing to notice and one thing to try, for every week of the first three years. Here is what this month covers. The app works out which week your child is in from their birth date and brings each one to you on the day.
- Week 118Pointing and Counting Objects
- Week 119Trying to Hop on One Foot
- Week 120Matching Colors
- Week 121Your baby is Creating Stories
Read next
- If Your Toddler Is Not Talking YetYou can request a free evaluation yourself. No doctor's referral and no diagnosis are needed first.
- When Do Babies Start Talking?'Mama' or 'dada' aimed at a specific parent is the 12-month checkpoint.
- Separation Anxiety in Babies and ToddlersReacting when you leave is on the CDC's 9-month checklist as a milestone, not a symptom.
This week, for your baby
Growbaby works out which week your baby is in from their birth date and brings that week's activity to you on the day, so you are not looking up where you are. Plus adaptive soothing for the nights and Growy for the questions in between.
Frequently asked questions
Touching each object as the number is said, which is the step from reciting numbers to actually counting. The count still tends to run ahead of or behind the objects for a while.
Hopping is attempted around this age and mostly produces an enthusiastic stumble. Getting off the ground on one foot needs balance that arrives later.
Made-up stories with characters who did not exist yesterday are invention rather than untruth. It is the same machinery that retelling a real event uses, pointed somewhere new.
This guide is for general informational purposes only. Growbaby is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Every baby develops at their own pace; for any question or concern about your baby's health or development, always consult your pediatrician or another qualified healthcare provider.