[potentialsinglemom]

Who has an infant who can tear up a room all by himself.

Muscles is now 10 mos old. He is into EVERYTHING...a fearless explorer.

I straightened the living room twice today and within minutes he woke up from his nap and started all over again. He managed to go in the laundry room while I was in the bathroom and pull the dirty clothes into the living room...PIECE BY PIECE!!! This little dude is quick. If I turn my head, he is gone. I am going to be really challenged when he starts to walk. Today, I tripped over him twice (while he was chasing the dog), tripped over a canned food (he got into a portable pantry), A car, the wippies box, an empty plastic water bottle (from the recycle bin).

I am really gonna have to learn how to set boundaries with him. So far, the words "NO NO" causes him to have tantrums. He pouts and folds his arms tight or throws himself on the floor and screams for less than a minute. I walk away from him and he gets over this fits very quickly.

In any event...I am exhausted. Hopefully, my trying to keep up with him will help me to lose weight

[momsphotoop]

My little one is almost two and yesterday I had really had enough with her picking something up and dropping it almost immediatly and moving on to the next thing lol So in a moment of frustration (NOT directed at her) as she dropped her toy and went to grab something else, I stopped her and asked her to put her book in the basket, I said this while holding what she wanted. she stopped and did exactly what I asked so I praised her and handed her the toy she wanted. Then she dropped her bag of gold fish, I said "J, please put your fish in the table" she stopped, went back and grabbed her fish and put it on the table lol whoo hoo!! We worked on this today too and after she pulled out all the dvds, she put them all back (to the best of her ability) before moving on, I did have to ask her to do it but it felt like a victory!! she is soooo much smarter then my 6 year old was at her age lol haha! I have no idea how this will help you especially with a 10 month old but maybe try and make the cleaning up as much fun for him as the messing up and after a while he will learn....maybe lol

[Rinata]

My little guy just turned 1 and it's amazing how fast he can destroy a room. What I do is I restrict the room he's allowed in, which is only the living room. All his toys are in there and I have full storage containers sitting in front of the tv stand and end table to block access. He is not able to get out of the room since it is blocked off. When the time comes for him to be able to have more access to the other rooms I plan on using gates to keep him out of areas that I don't want him in especially the kitchen and the laundry room.

[RNFosterMom]

We had extremely busy 2 toddlers for 6 months last winter and quickly learned that we had to block off an area for them to be in -- we were stuck there most of the time too. We had a cabinet turned on its side across the living room entry way and another one bisecting the living room/dining area (100 year old house; couldn't find gates that would fit). We have outlet covers and drawer locks on all cabinets in the room. We arranged plastic bins and other furniture so they couldn't get behind the couch, chairs and lamp table. We also have gates to keep them out of the kitchen and off the stairs. We would organize their toys in one corner and they delighted in pulling out each toy, playing with it for 1 minute or less and then abandoning it in the middle of the floor -- this was repeated each time we straightened up, or about 20x a day. I quickly learned not to try to fold laundry while I was supervising them -- they found baskets of folded laundry absolutely irresistible!!

We all have bruises on our shins and sprained toes from climbing over this stuff 100s of times a day! Last winter was like living in a bunker, but at least we knew they were safe! We just have the 12 month old boy now, and he has learned to climb onto the couch and I haven't figured out how to keep him off of that! Good luck!

[irelady10]

Toddlers are like wrecking balls! They (or is it just mine?) delight in throwing things on the floor and putting things into things. I watched my baby put each piece of his magnetic refrigerator toys (about 20) into the cat's food bag the other day...but, it kept him busy while I was getting dinner ready! My little apartment is like an obstacle course during the day. Its a good thing my little guy is so cute- it makes the mess easier to deal with!!

BTW- I don't bother seriously straightening up (his toys, that is) until he is napping or asleep for the night! But, I have started having him help me put things away- its more him than me right now, but its a start.

[Fatcat]

struggled with infertility for years, then finally had 2 girls in a couple of years. One day her husband came home and said "look at this living room! There are toys everywhere!" and she said "I know. Isn't it wonderful!"

[lucmarmic]

Originally Posted by Fatcat

struggled with infertility for years, then finally had 2 girls in a couple of years. One day her husband came home and said "look at this living room! There are toys everywhere!" and she said "I know. Isn't it wonderful!"

I love that..because this is exactly how I feel. My girls are into everything. I have a laundry basket in the living room and this is where we put the toys. when its full it goes all in the bedroom and then we put the empty basket back in the living room. Its a start....

good luck with the little guy.

[kbabel77]

yep our little guy (17 months) is into everything too. Our latest is climbing. we find him on the kitchen table all the time. he climbs the couch all the chairs. it's nuts. nothing can distract him. we too try to keep him in a section of our home but he cries so much whenever any of us leave. he lOVES to be with all of us and I have two other kids he follows like a little puppy. this kid is so cute and sweet and good. we just took him on a vacation that required him to sit in the car for 10 hours (with breaks of course) and he never even fussed. great toddler just into everything. it's like he has a radar that someone left the bathroom door open and he is in the toilet. he knows the minute one of the other kids left the gate open to the stairs. and he is soooo fast. he figured out how to get out of the house and i found him on the front porch last week. i really hope this is just a faze.

[potentialsinglemom]

I wished I did have room for a baby gate to block off things. I live in a very small duplex apartment with an open floor plan, my kitchen, living room and dining area are technically one room.

He has not discovered the bathroom yet...knock on wood. So far, he has a thing about washing his bottle in his dog watering bowl.

[takingtheplunge]

Yep. This is my life. The word no does nothing for her. It might stop her briefly or cause her to look at me.

I quit picking up toys until they spill into the walk way. There's no point. I close doors to most rooms; I have three fences up to block off kitchen, the kitty's bathroom, and step down living room. (tip -- Babies R US sells a Summer gate that has an adjustable gate that is 12' long. We had to buy two and put them together to block off the kitchen in our open floorplan).

She got into the bathroom once when a guest left the door open. I heard the door close. I heard giggling. Then by the time I got there, she was alreadly cleaning the toilet with the toilet brush!
When I do let her in the kitchen w/ me, she plays for a couple minutes, then goes straight for the cat food. She's stopped trying to eat it. Instead, she gets clothes from the laundry and puts them in the cat water bowl. She laughs at the word no. I move her on the other side of the fence, and she will still do it when I let her back. I have even tried putting her in an time out spot and counting to five, and she can now say the word "one" and put her finger up back at me. It's too cute, and I know she is just "exploring" so I rarely put her in time out. According to my mother in law, her generation did not need baby fences and their kids understood the word "no." They did not have to rearrange their house. Hum . . . She says I am not consistent enough with saying no. I think she just forgot or had extra special kids.

[jeni-b]

I have been thinking about this just today. DD was not a wrecker, she played neatly with 1 thing at a time and was easy to pick up after. Our 3 FKs well, they are terrors and the baby is a climber too. They can empty a room in the time it takes me to run upstairs and use the restroom or answer the phone. I feel like I live in a tornado zone.

I honestly wouldn't change it, but I am trying to get a better organizational system. Clean up is confusing to them, because of cognitive delays.

[dac_cincy]

what about using a "super yard'? I got mine at BRU and Bug used it for a while. I have friends who use it in the yard. I know it was weighted at the bottom, so it was not able to be pushed over (although Bug never tested that). I did use it block the hallway once before Bug came home, for firends who were visiting. Since it is 5 panels, it covers a large area

Love to you,