Trapped toddler parents of the fabled Winter 2020/2021. Puddle suits at the ready..hello Christmas!

[footprintsintheslow]

New thread as the other one is running out.

A place to find find and share ideas of how to get through these crazy times with lockdowns and babies and toddlers.

New members welcome.

Hello glad I've found this thread! I've had a read through but can't find much about under 2s.
I have a 19 month old little boy and 25 weeks pregnant with number 2.
I need some ideas on what we can do, we live ruraly so go for walks but it always ends up him either wanting to walk in the road, or wanting to push the buggy and then he will fall over, if I use reins he just goes all limp and hangs from them!we Can't walk far as I have bad sciatica with this pregnancy and it's freezing so we need some indoor fun ideas.
We can't really do crafty bits yet as he doesn't really understand.
We read books, watch too much c beebies and play with toys, eat and sleep.
Any ideas for us?

Things we have tried.
Playdough - doesn't quite get it yet, just touches it with one finger and then asks me to put it away.
Sand- just stares at it or throws it across the room of our rented flat so I worry about the carpets being ruined.

I was thinking about zoom style baby/toddler groups but would that be a waste? Will they understand that's it slightly different from watching TV?

@MisiSam have a look on YouTube before you cough up for paying for an online class, there’s lots of free resources on there.

How about painting the bath? Splodge some paints in, plonk naked child in, you sit with a cup of tea at the side? Bonus is you can turn the shower in to clean up the mess and the child!!

If you’re worried about ruining the carpets a large cheap shower curtain and an old towel helps, I rent too and I find ours invaluable.

My son loved sorting things at that age, so a selection of stuff to put in a box almost like playing post office, pulling things out of boxes too, old tissue box filled with flannels, poke lolly sticks in for him to pull out.
Bun tray half filled with bits (pasta, rice, cereal) and some spoons, pan drum set- the pans and some wooden spoons. Have you got a spare under the bed storage box? They’re good for splashy water play as they don’t need much water in them.

Silver foil blankets he liked at that age, making dens (just a blanket over a chair!), gathering loads of books up and getting into my bed to read (bonus activity when you’re knackered!) playing dens under your duvet, bubbles are fun, we have a machine and will turn the lights off and hunt bubbles with torches out or play music and dance in them, try and catch them.

A key thing to bear in mind is that because their attention span is shit you don’t want to be putting too much time/effort/resources into it, especially when pregnant, or it becomes really disheartening when they’re not interested or only play for 30 seconds.
Sorry for shit typing/formatting, feeding DD and typing with left hand on my phone

@MisiSam. Tuff or other tray with kinetic sand in it? Much less messy than normal sand, we've found recently .

Do you have access to any outside space (I know you said you were in a flat)? A small toddler slide kept my DS busy for hours at that age and tired him out. Otherwise an indoor pop-up tunnel is great and doesn't take up much room.

What I found with that age group is that you often have to show them how to play. They're too young for crafts and imaginative play, but they like to copy you if you start digging in some sand or sorting large pom poms into boxes. So don't try to engage them, ignore them and let them come to you .

A very simple train set? Wilko do a little one. DS enjoyed pushing the trains on the track at that age, although he needed me to build it. He got his first Brio track just before he turned 2 and, by that age, he could play with it properly - only a few months more to go before your DS will be able to do a lot more!

Washing up in the sink? Put a couple of used towels on the floor to catch the water and my DS used to love a few cups and plastic jugs, some warm water and soap suds. Or you can do this with bubble bath in the bath if you're afraid of the mess. Bath crayons and foam bath letters also great.

Yes to the train set, argos did one for about £12 that I started DS off on and he LOVED it. I mean, I build it, he pushed the trains about, got what we called Train Rage and then smashed it up, but that was part of the fun.

Some great ideas thankyou. I'm glad to know it's normal for their attention span to be rubbish. I'm jelous of people crafting and such! My sil has a train set that she keeps meaning to lend me so I will. See if we can collect that (socially distanced ofcourse)
We do have a large communal garden but no one really goes out there so will try and utilise that a bit more. I think I'm just feeling incredibly lazy, I had to go to the supermarket yesterday which takes. Up quite alot of the day and I felt so much better getting out with a purpose.
Obviously we can't do that everyday.
I probably need to appreciate the boredem a bit as I will miss it when the new baby arrives 😁

@MisiSam in addition to the excellent ideas above, other things my DD loved at that age were:

• cardboard box houses/ tunnels
• long daytime baths in winter - we had some of that shower gel that comes out as a foam for messy play in there
• posting toys into holes in cardboard boxes
• big bag of pom poms (from eg baker ross) for posting into hole in box/ scooping with spoon/ colour sorting
• tearing magazines (once you start the tear), unwrapping toys out of foil, unpeeling masking tape from table
• stick toy animals to fridge with masking tape or put in plastic cups with a strip of masking tape over top for them to “rescue”
• sticking torn tissue paper on sticky side of sticky back plastic (masking tape it to table)
• getting all the saucepans out & playing the drums (depending on neighbours!)
• the oball was great at this age as they can hold it so easily - google “oball”. Dd used to love pulling “baby sensory” scarves (or any scarf i guess!) out of it. A cheap set of these are well worth too it we still use ours.

We used the Scuttlebug a lot at that age or maybe slightly older to tire her out - they fold down small. This site has some great ideas for under 2s - chicklink.com/20-activities-for-a-toddler/

Thankyou. I've an empty cereal box so I'm going to try and make a little post box today. Gosh March lockdown was so much easier, he wasnt yet one, couldn't walk or talk, and I wasn't pregnant so could look forward to a glass of wine once he went to bed and dh lost his job so even though that was rubbish, he was home all day with us! Now he is working again which is great but much harder for me.
Thanks so much. Loving this thread, going to have a proper scroll through with a coffee at some point!

Everyone was up at 5 today so its going to be a long one. Managed to amuse DS for a while by turning off the lights and giving him a torch. I asked him to find things with the light, which he loved.

Ooh sticking a length of sellotape between two chair legs and getting them to stick pom poms to it.

Hi all, here we are, nearly at another weekend.

Did someone say Baker Ross sale?

runs

We got some guinea pigs for DD1, so they have proved a welcome distraction,though obviously DD2 is limited to standing quietly and watching them in awe.

But I'm repurposing two of my smaller raised beds, and ordered lots of seed, so that DD1 can occupy herself with growing guinea pig fodder, so that's one of our garden jobs this weekend.

The Melissa and Doug threading beads that DD1 got for her first birthday are a massive hit here at the minute. She is spending ages threading and unthreading.

I am finding it so hard to get motivated. Knowing that we won't be going anywhere or seeing anyone until the middle of February. And it's so, so cold outside. Last year we got two frosts the whole winter, this year there's been heavy frosts every day for about two weeks now. I'm finding it really hard to get up in the morning because our house is freezing at 6am, I'm not a morning person, and my energy is just zapped by cold. If only a) I could hibernate, or b) toddlers didn't wake before 8am!

@MisiSam it's a really hard age for all the reasons you state! But it does pass. My girl hated craft and messy play but one day I just tried it again and it was a hit.

It's so hard being pregnant and parenting at the same time. When are you due?

@ReallySpicyCurry why is your house so cold? Sounds like torture to me!❄️

I'm being induced on Monday so today's activities include wearing pyjamas, watching Chugington (yawn) and eating crap.

Just found this thread so marking it so I can come back and read all the great ideas. I love the tuff trays! In Scotland and need all the ice to melt at the moment the pavements are all booby trapped

@footprintsintheslow thankyou, I'm due end of April.
Yes I tried to play with his new playdough set and he just wants Mr to put it away

DS was up at 6 today! He's usually a solid 7-7.30 rider so, although I doubt I'll get much sympathy here , that was a bit of a shock...

We had a nice morning though... met a friend and her DS for a walk in the woods and then had a picnic on the way back. DS still snoozing in his bed which makes up a bit for the early start.

Think it's going to be a duplo afternoon. I'll put that out on the tuff tray and hopefully that will keep DS busy for a while. After that, TV. This week has gone on too long!

I don’t know if anyone listens to podcasts but this one I quite funny and very apt for us

Just posting for advice here as there's been a thread where the police fined two friends for having a coffee since it was a "picnic"... It never occurred to me that having something to eat with members of your own household outside could be illegal .

Anyway, I'd like to ask everyone's opinions... if DS and I are out walking and we stop for a snack or sandwich on the way back since it's lunchtime and sit on the ground on our rug (just the two of us, no one from any other households)... Is that OK or against the rules?

Really confused now.

@MessAllOver that's crazy! All I can say is that I certainly wouldn't let it stop me sitting down for a sandwich. There's zero harm in that. Let them fine away. I'd just refuse to pay it. What are they going to do? Can't believe things are at this point that we are even having discussions like this though

@footprintsintheslow we don't have oil or gas, just the coal fire and a back boiler. So no fire, no heat. It works pretty well, and the house is actually warmer than our last house, which was oil, but it obviously takes a while to get the fire cleaned out, lit, and hot enough to warm the pipes, so first thing in the morning is not the best time on saying that I'm fairly hardy, but I've never felt the cold this much before, and suspect losing 30lbs of my own "insulation" recently may be partially to blame

@MessAllOver that thread is driving me round the bend! I think yours is a subjective question though - strictly speaking you’d be going out in order to exercise, and sitting down to eat isn’t exercise. But where is the line - stopping to feed a baby is clearly reasonable, as is feeding a toddler. But if you were to head out at lunchtime for a short walk and long picnic, that’s less defensible. I mean, totally common sense reasonable if you’re in a quiet location, just looking specifically at the law and the guidance. Personally, I’d do it rurally where I live, I might not in a London park.

@ReallySpicyCurry I lost a fair bit of weight a couple of years ago and felt soo much colder! I do not envy your morning fire building, running down the stairs to turn the thermostat up is enough for me 😂

@WeSearchedHereWeSearchedThere. So we headed out at 10am... DS walked part of the way to the woods on foot and I pushed him in the buggy. We met our friend just after 10.45am, two toddlers ran in front of us through the woods while we walked socially distanced. We left at around 12.15 and, at around 12.30, DS and I stopped at the way home and had some sandwiches and cake. We got home around 1.30. So we were out for 3 1/2 hours and, of that, we were probably walking for 3 hours plus and sitting for around 15/20 mins. I'm just not sure anymore .

You're an actual rebel.

I'm telling you. This is how it starts. Egg sandwiches on a freezing bench in January. Storming the Bastille in July. Everyone has to start somewhere

Honestly though, I've followed everything to the letter since March, but the two things I baulk at are curfews and the whole you can't stop when you're out thing.

@MessAllOver we went to the park yesterday and took sarnies, didn’t cross my mind hat it was against rules. And considering the police force in question are saying it’s ‘not in the spirit’ of things then I think they realise they’ve overreacted but just can’t bring themselves to admit it.

Quite frankly if someone said anything to me while my child ate his sarnie and drank the drink I bought from the park cafe they’d get the sharp end of my tongue.

It's going to be a grim couple of months indeed if we can't even stop to eat when out. The trouble where we live is that you have to walk for around 30-40 minutes to get somewhere suitable for a toddler to have a long walk (everywhere else is urban, busy roads and small parks which are crammed). So by the time we've got there, had our walk, waded through some puddles and DS has collected some sticks and rocks, it's lunchtime already. And he gets very grumpy indeed if he gets too hungry!

Do you think maybe the cake is a step too far? So it's ok to munch sandwiches, tomatoes and carrot sticks, but a slice of Victoria sponge is not a "necessity" and therefore turns the whole exercise into a leisure "picnic" .

Just marking a place here!
This thread has amazing ideas! I have a nearly 3 year old and a 2 and a half month old so finding new ideas is always good!
Today we've made thank you cards for everyone that bought them Christmas presents and my eldest DS loved using stampers and pens and doing paint handprints! (Even if they didn't look like handprints in the end)

I think cake is perfectly acceptable, we had chocolate and raspberry flapjack on our bench as well.