is she having me on? or am i a terrible mum?

[gingernutlover]

18m old \dd will not let me do an6ttthing

she lauys on floor and cries if i try to do asnthiung other than hold her

she is easily distractedby cats other children and me pickinh up but cries as soon as i put her down and i cant hold her all day, shes heavby! also cat does not sdtay long and cant always be with ojter ch

i work 3 days a week and need to do things like the cleaning on my days off as well as look after dd - am i being unrealsictic ex[pecting to do these things?

dh says she must be teething and so I need to just cuddle her! Yeah, like he would !!"!!!

[zippitippitoes]

when you do stuff she does it too so she puts things in washer, has a wiping cloth, a hoover, picks up things etc

soeverything is let's do this let's do that

if you make beds make it a ritual she helps with..eg what do we do next shake pillows etc

do things in short burst interspersed with a sit down with a book and going outside

[gingernutlover]

TREID IT she just seemnefd intent on paddies

[sunnysideup]

Agree with zippi about doing stuff in short bursts, and get her involved, though this can make things take longer!

My ds was very hungry for attention, and to be honest I more or less went with it; he did have a nap in the day and I got loads done then. When he was up, I was more or less playing with him. Also got things done with dh's help in evenings and weekends. More tiring for me in a way as didn't get to flop as soon as he was in bed, however it made for happy days with my ds, which is what I wanted.

And it didn't turn him into a child who couldn't play alone; when he was at the age and stage where he was more able to play alone, he did, and does!

I thought that I'd rather ds remembered us having fun together, than remembered we had a clean and tidy house which we didn't

[JustSometimes]

DS is going through similar phases. I also work 3 days a week (meant to be 24 hrs in 3 days, but is normally about 30hrs) so I really understand what you mean about trying to catch up with cleaning etc. I found that if I spent a concentrated time (say 30 minutes) with DS playing / reading/ water play / going for a walk; he is much happier to let me get on with my housework.
I let him put the washing on with me, sweep the floor with dustpan and brush and clean doors. He doens't like the vaccuum cleaner much due to the noise, but he does help me do that too.
I am by no means an expert. What I have sussed is when I get stressed or overwhelmed he becomes more clingy and then it's a vicious circle.
I try to remind myself to look at it from his perspective: he wants to be with the person who means so much to him and a cuddles is worth the universe to him. Once he's happy, he trots off on his own for ages.
But I completely understand 'where you're at'!

[zippitippitoes]

ignore the paddies

just make it clear what you are doing

keep up a running commentary

[RachelG]

I'm in the same situation with my DS, also 18 months. I also work 3 days/week.

I try and get things done round the house, and occasionally he'll let me. Other times he gets upset. To be honest, unless it's desperately important (like getting laundry in tumble dryer so there are clean clothes/nappies), I stop what I'm doing and play with him for a while. Then, if I'm lucky, he'll perk up a bit and let me have 2 minutes to do another quick job!

It's a phase I'm sure.