climbing chairs

[smittenbyu]

D has finally overcome her over-cautiousness and has begun climbing chairs. Our dining table can no longer be used to keep stuff that we don't want her to touch. She has also now mastered climbing up the swiveling computer chair to get to the keyboard and hence I no longer can be by the PC mac when she is around. Does the novelty of this fade away? 

But it's so cute to see her atop the chair with a big smile on her face that beams as if she has conquered mt everest!

At the park, she rode all the slides today. The big spiral one to the small shallow ones. She went up and down for over an hour and refused to go home. Even there she found that coming down on her belly side feet first was the safest way to go! She did try sitting and coming forward only when another kid her size was doing it!! ah heck... I'd rather he be careful and have fun as I am too much of scaredy-cat! 

How do you get a toddler to leave places where they are having fun? I always have to walk away with a screaming crying-bloody-murder of a toddler. I have carried with me hidden treats - toys that she goes gaga over and stops everything for in other situations. But nope, she is determined to stay put! yikes... 

Today the high school baseball team practicing batting and pitching came to the rescue - cut the tantrum by half as we walked home!

Comments

[echomyst.livejournal.com]

I carry hidden treats with me too :-)

Also, I've learned that if I'm firm, quick, and consistent in the departure routine, Téa's cries and protests don't last as long since she knows no matter how big of a tantrum she throws, we wouldn't stay longer.

Other things I do:

- say: "Hey look! All the kids are going home!!" (I usually do this when I see one or two kids leaving, and point these kids out to her!)

- remind her of the fun things we could do at home

- announce matter-of-factly: "Home time! Bye-bye, swings. Bye-bye, slides!"

- give her a heads up before we really need to leave: "Five more minutes and we'll go home." And then "One more minute." And then leave for good.

[fussycat.livejournal.com]

The counting down minutes strategy is very good, we always do it before bedtime. 15 minutes to bedtime - 10 minutes to bedtime - 5 minutes... and by then he's already putting his toys away. A friend of mine has color tokens for the same thing, she puts down a green one when there's plenty of time, then yellow when it's almost time to finish and a red one when time is out.

[echomyst.livejournal.com]

Yes! Concrete things like tokens are great.

Instead of minutes, we also refer to actions like "Let's go down the slide two more times." or "One story, then it's sleeping time."

[smittenbyu]

hmmm does it get better with time? Today D started screaming bloody murder as I was putting the sweater on her (we were at playdate and ready to go home - she was sleepy too)! She had a meltdown and completely worked herself up!

When I give her the 15 minute-10 minute-5 minute warning she runs further away from me! sigh.

[echomyst.livejournal.com]

hmmm does it get better with time?

Of course it does, don't you worry! :-) I've only started noticing recently that we can actually reason with Téa, most of the time.

btw, have you read Happiest toddler on the block? I don't think I follow all the advice, but it does have some good tips.

[smittenbyu]

I hadn't read it completely. Was planning to get it again. I do empathize as he suggests. This stuff helps a lot when we are at home but not outside, her favorite place!! I also been reading 1-2-3-magic. A friend had used it and it had numerous good points too.

I can't wait to get over this stage of toddlerhood. She is so good most of the time. it's just the leaving places that is such a pain!!!

[safety-valve.livejournal.com]

I usually bribe Daniel to leave. We usually go to the grocery after an outing in any case, so it's easy to go all "Honey, if we go now, I'm going to buy you a BANANA!" (It doesn't really matter what it is, as long as I sound overly excited about it. :D) If I have to get him out of a shower/bath (he could soak himself for HOURS), I promise him a cup of cocoa or a glass of juice.

In some situations, I blackmail/threaten him. "If you don't come here/stop doing that/whatever right now, you won't get any carrots when we get home!" (He loves carrots. And bananas. And bathing. :D) Usually, though, I go with the bribing. Hubby says it's a more positive approach to this whole parenting business. ;)

[smittenbyu]

I try all that too...even her toys that she loves and stuff... but she just screams and cries... I swear the whole block we passed through today heard her. I finally had to stop and nurse her to calm down as she would soon not be able to breathe!!!

[safety-valve.livejournal.com]

Part of it (the screaming) is probably age-related. In Finnish, we call "terrible twos" uhmaikä which literally means "defiance age". I've started to consider it a rather appropriate name, as my D seems to refuse to do things, fight back (or rather against me), and generally misbehave just because he can. :D It gets better eventually, though. In your case she's probably just trying to see how long you keep "disobeying" her. If you're consistent, she'll give up after a week or two (or three...), I'm sure, and lessen the screaming part.