Who has a BUSY toddler?

[skiesthelimit]

So my friend just posted on FB that her and her DD (who's the same age as X) are chilling on the couch watching TV.  She's always talking about how her DD just chills out and is never any trouble.  She's a SAHM and has a big dinner made every night, cleans her house and runs her own home based business.  I have no idea how she does this while home with her DD.  She will even take a shower while her DD plays quietly.

I can't even cook dinner when X is home.  He would probably kill himself if I took my eyes off him for a second.  I even have to take him to the bathroom with me when I pee.  I wouldn't even imagine showering if I'm home alone.

This is my usual routine:
"X get off the chair"
"X don't stand on the chair"
"X don't jump off the chair"
"X don't eat that"
"X don't pull the cat's tail"
"X stop eating cat food"
"X get out of the toilet"
"X get off the dishwasher" (he opens the dishwasher door, stands on it and tries to climb onto the counter).

He doesn't sit still, and if he does it's for 2 seconds.  He's BUSY.  Always getting into something.  I would never imagine sitting on the couch watching TV with him.  If I'm home alone with him we eat take out for dinner, otherwise DH cooks while I run after X.  Anyone else with me?

[Deleted]

I have a half & half. He can sit and chill and watch TV or sit quietly and play. But the times I NEED to do something like cook dinner, he's clingy, whiny, pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards and throwing them in the dog food container, or pulling the toilet paper off the roll. I feel like, when I give him all of my attention, he doesn't care to use it... he just wants to be alone. But when I get up to do something then he's like, "Oh waaaaaaaaait, I want you now!"

[breezy8407]

DS will sit and watch TV if we let him and will play on his own quietly. He's not like your friends kid though.

DD is a busy body. She wants to play with us, us always climbing on the couch even though she's not supposed to, turning things on/off, etc. I am always saying no to her.

[thedahliharpa]

Yes and mostly in the last 30 days or so. The climbing! The destruction! :-) Her sister was much more cautious.

[skiesthelimit]

Sept 13, 2013 14:40:31 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

DS will sit and watch TV if we let him and will play on his own quietly. He's not like your friends kid though.

DD is a busy body. She wants to play with us, us always climbing on the couch even though she's not supposed to, turning things on/off, etc. I am always saying no to her.

This morning I think I said no to X a million times.  At one point he looked at me and said "no no no no no no no no no!" and then ran away.  LOL

[mrsjaymay]

Yeah, she's a busy body for sure. If I leave her alone, she destroys something. I could never cook or shower when home alone with her!

[rjamz]

Jamie is a busy busy bee. Sometimes I can turn that into playing nicely on his own though. Like I can give him a box of tissues, put it on the floor on one end of the room and he'll sometimes take the tissues out one by one and throw them in the garbage. It'll take like 10-15 minutes and I can get stuff done, which I figure is worth the cost of a box of tissues

[jsillyfun]

May is very much how you describe, although just recently she has started to be able to play quietly for a few minutes or watch tv and stay out of trouble for a bit. But she is very very busy most of the time. 

[TrudyCampbell]

Violet is very chill and very cautious. She doesn't really get into things she isn't supposed to. I also try to rarely do it, but if I turn the TV on she will sit there and watch it for the most part. Sometimes I leave her in her gated community and I take a very fast shower while she's by herself.

ETA my apt is tiny, I can still hear her when I'm in the shower if she cries. 

[CrazyLucky]

Haha, I know how you feel. DS is three and he's very busy. We go to church, which is an adventure, and one time a guy who I had never met before said to me, "I never took my DD to church until she was four, because she was a handful. But HE'S a HANDFUL!" Yes he is. But he's fun and I love him to death and at age 3, he is able to entertain himself for short periods of time. DD is the opposite. Very calm.

I saw a post here one time about the difference between the first and second child. The one that made me laugh was:
LO1: I love to let LO1 nap on my chest. I don't worry about spoiling him because the naps are so wonderful.
LO2: I would also like to nap with LO2, but never have because LO1 doesn't know the meaning of quiet and does not recognize my right to be still for longer than three seconds.

[teamhayes]

Very busy. I'm not sure he has ever sat on the couch. The only time he is still is when he is in his highchair. He could care less about tv but likes the radio.

[carawestt]

Lincoln is constantly moving. He sits still for like 10 minutes at a time (to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse after his bath) but other than that, he's on the move all day. He does take little breaks to cuddle with me or sit on my lap though

[muppetinma]

If the TV is off, Andrew is VERY busy. But, I will say, that he's very good for a 17 month old. If I tell him to be careful, or to sit on his hiney, he listens. He rarely gets into things he's not supposed to.

If the TV is on, he's a zombie. He'd watch it 24/7 if I'd let him.

[melis74]

What is this "chilling" you speak of? I know nothing of the sort in my house! So IF it makes you feel any better, you are not alone, lol.

[mumegs]

She is pretty chill, she will sit and play with a toy for like 10 minutes at a time. The only bad thing she does is puts every little thing she finds straight in her mouth. Now it's become a game, she puts something in her mouth, looks at me, smiles and laughs and runs away. I am trying to make it serious so she will stop thinking it's funny. But that is really all she gets into, she is not a climber *knock on wood*. I can definitely leave the room and go pee or run upstairs or something without having to watch her every second.

[kistjenn]

Sept 13, 2013 14:41:16 GMT -5 thedahliharpa said:

Yes and mostly in the last 30 days or so. The climbing! The destruction! :-) Her sister was much more cautious.

This is the same for my girls too.  Chloe is a bruiser though, kinda clumsy.  She always has bruises all over.  I swear I don't beat my kid.  The other day she fell of the table.  Don't judge, the kid is quick and clumsy.

[kcsp910]

We have a busy girl too! This week she's watched tv for 15 minutes at a time, and it's new territory for us. Her new thing is trying to stand on boxes and scale the pantry shelves to get what she wants. Most of the time, she's non stop, but the girl does love to read books.

[rjamz]

Though at this very moment, he's sitting cuddling om my lap eating a pretzel and watching Ellen

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[laurack]

She is only chill if she is sickly. Otherwise she is a whirling dervish of destruction and screeching

[breezy8407]

Sept 13, 2013 14:42:57 GMT -5 skiesthelimit said:

Sept 13, 2013 14:40:31 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

DS will sit and watch TV if we let him and will play on his own quietly. He's not like your friends kid though.

DD is a busy body. She wants to play with us, us always climbing on the couch even though she's not supposed to, turning things on/off, etc. I am always saying no to her.

This morning I think I said no to X a million times.  At one point he looked at me and said "no no no no no no no no no!" and then ran away.  LOL

Same here. She runs away and says No. She will say no as she is doing something that we say no to her about. So as she is crawling up on the couch, she says no. 

[Deleted]

Ada doesn't know the word chill. We go to storytime at the library and she's the craziest baby there and I wonder if all the moms with crazy babies just stay home or if Ada is just crazier than normal. I'm hoping our next kid is a little calmer!

[rjamz]

Sept 13, 2013 15:11:28 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

Sept 13, 2013 14:42:57 GMT -5 skiesthelimit said:

This morning I think I said no to X a million times.  At one point he looked at me and said "no no no no no no no no no!" and then ran away.  LOL

Same here. She runs away and says No. She will say no as she is doing something that we say no to her about. So as she is crawling up on the couch, she says no. 

Oh man, Jamie too. He used to do a solemn head shake when he did something wrong. Now he says "no, no, no, no" as he spills water down his front

Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards

[mumegs]

Actually now that I think about it right now she is SO CLINGY that when I'm home I am almost always carrying her or she's on my lap.

[joyhart02]

Sept 13, 2013 14:41:16 GMT -5 thedahliharpa said:

Yes and mostly in the last 30 days or so. The climbing! The destruction! :-) Her sister was much more cautious.

All of this, I call Calista a tornado because everything in her path messed up.

lydia with her delayed physical movement was content sitting and playing. She was needy but I could leave her alone sitting on the counter and she would not move. I could take a shower with her sitting on the bathroom counter and not move. 

Calista will jump off the couch head first if we are not holding on to her. 

[Deleted]

Climbing and destruction here. I turn on Phineas and Ferb (for some reason the only show he will actually semi watch right now) when I need to nurse or cook so he doesn't hurt himself, his brother, or the cat. I look away for two minutes and when I look back he's on the table, pulling on a painting on the wall, standing on his riding toy, jumping on the couch, laying on the cat...etc.

I'm tired just looking at that. I am fervently hoping Theo is a chill baby.

[Deleted]

Very much has been busy since 5 mo the old. Mins on everything dumps the dog water and food out crumbled up my deodorant when I was trying to use the restroom. Pulls the lamp out of the plug tries to climb up the side of the stairs.

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2013 14:40:29 GMT -5 @sprinkles said:

I have a half & half. He can sit and chill and watch TV or sit quietly and play. But the times I NEED to do something like cook dinner, he's clingy, whiny, pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards and throwing them in the dog food container, or pulling the toilet paper off the roll. I feel like, when I give him all of my attention, he doesn't care to use it... he just wants to be alone. But when I get up to do something then he's like, "Oh waaaaaaaaait, I want you now!"

This is Laney too! She's good most of the times but can be really crazy in a silly way and sometimes she's just cranky and crazy in a bad way! She will also sit and watch tv for an hour with me and I put her in her crib with toys and take a shower all the time.

[Deleted]

Yup, very busy, but I can see their focus and attention spans expanding, too, which is nice.

We don't spend a lot of time yelling b/c we basically baby proofed the crap out of the main room, so there isn't much trouble for them to get into. I don't worry about things like climbing in there.

But it's exhausting, lol. Totally, totally exhausting.

[AndyCohen]

Sept 13, 2013 14:40:29 GMT -5 @sprinkles said:

I have a half & half. He can sit and chill and watch TV or sit quietly and play. But the times I NEED to do something like cook dinner, he's clingy, whiny, pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards and throwing them in the dog food container, or pulling the toilet paper off the roll. I feel like, when I give him all of my attention, he doesn't care to use it... he just wants to be alone. But when I get up to do something then he's like, "Oh waaaaaaaaait, I want you now!"

This is Audrey exactly! I can sit on the couch and she will play independently for 40-60min! The second I put a foot in the kitchen she is whining and clinging and throwing a tantrum. Drives me crazy!

[bebeetmoi]

DD hasn't sit still since she was 4 months old. That's pretty much all I have to say about this. Anyone who knows my child knows she runs me ragged.