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.

@Souperspooker. You've got me inspired to do more baking with DS here! We haven't done any for ages and he actually really enjoys mixing everything in the bowl and then decorating the results. Glad you're feeling a bit better (sorry, missed earlier post).... Things are so grim atm, aren't they? Definitely need to see a friend now and then.

We had a lovely day in the (little bit of) snow we had here. I don't think it has snowed heavily here since DS was a very little baby (warm south-east) so he loved standing at the window looking out at it this morning. We then went for a snowy walk (via Starbucks ) in the woods. We found an icy mound and he absolutely loved climbing to the top and us pushing him down it to the bottom! Some older children had made some huge snowmen...we didn't quite manage that but we made a very little snowman and found some sticks and stones to decorate. And cracking the icy shards on top of the puddles was a huge hit, of course.

@ReallySpicyCurry2. Loving your gardening tips...definitely going to give salvia hot lips a go.

Holy Trinity is perfect :o

We have had an exhausting day. First DS2 decided he wasn't going to sleep between midnight and 4am, then got up for the day at 8 we drove off to another town to pick up DS1's new high sleeper bed and then couldn't fit it in the car on the way back! DS2 and I had to do a mad dash across an unfamiliar town to the train station in the freezing cold with no proper coats and catch a train home! FFS!

And then DS2 still wouldn't nap when we got home so we just cracked on and swapped the two rooms around. DS1 now has a cosy tech den and DS2 has a huge space to play. He was running up and down the room at bedtime so fingers crossed that will help.

@BertieBotts. That sounds awful...Hope you're nice and warm now!

I'm liking all the gardening talk...we have some pot plants which my mum takes home when they get too big (South facing windows, lots of sunshine)
Very jealous of the snow, we had about 10mins of sleet mixed in with the rain...good for puddles to scoot through at least!

Your day yesterday sounded very tiring @BertieBotts I hope the DC slept better for you last night.

Best news of our weekend is that DS2 started walking (He's 1 this week). He has also started scrunching his face up angrily at you if you take stuff off him he wants (tiny toys, his brothers big apple chunks etc). I think he learnt the angry face from DS1!

When we were in our flat before we moved, we had an indoor herb garden on a shelf next to our big kitchen window. Nicest thing was it didn't die come winter as so many of my plants from last year seem to have .

@Camomila congrats on having a walker! I remember being desperate for DS1 to walk, life seemed to get much easier (for a short time anyway!).

@BertieBotts I hope you got a bit more sleep last night!

Public service announcement: if you have silicon cake cases, kinetic sand sticks to them like glue. Some disappointed sand castle failures this morning... (though it’s quite satisfying to peel off, a bit like painting pva on your skin)

My pump doesn't work, I'm gutted. I was really looking forward to DS's reaction

I have the least green fingers going! I desperately try all the time to grow things but even my window herbs die within days. Genuinely don't know what I do wrong!

Attempted baking flapjack this morning with DD (16 months). Was reminded why I rarely bake....cue oats everywhere, her screeching because she can't eat the whole bowl of ingredients and then managing to get a good helping of golden syrup in her hair. I'm done.

What sort of activities are suitable for her age? Struggling a bit as I would love to do crafts etc but she just doesn't seem interested in them yet. So it's her same old toys and cartoons again 🙈

Also I would LOVE chickens. Sadly don't have the room in the garden for them though!

@Motherofmonsters

My pump doesn't work, I'm gutted. I was really looking forward to DS's reaction

Oh nooooo! Why doesn't it work? Mines not arriving until tonight :(

@Motherofmonsters gutted! Can you return it? Ball ache though.

@drumst1ck my DS is 3.5 and crafty stuff is still hard work, I honestly think at 16mo you’re setting yourself up for a stressful mess rather than a lovely time!
How do you feel about messy play? DS loved it at that age, I’d shove him in the bath in his nappy and give him some bowls of water, plastic cups, squirty foam and bring a chair and sit and have a brew.

I’ve put some stuff on the big shop which is getting delivered tomorrow to make some fat balls for the birds. DS will enjoy the smushing shit together and eating the ingredients, maybe not the lard. He’ll probably give it a try mind you.
We’ve got woodpeckers, tits, bull finches all sorts in the woods behind the house and then pop by the big Holly bush in the garden.

My 3 year old hates messy play! He's never enjoyed it and that now makes sense as he's got ASD and doesn't like anything on his hands or feet, he's very sensory. Craft wise, that's still a no go, he's just not interested, same with colouring (scribbling), he will do it probably once a week even though I try most days and it'll literally be a 30 second scribble and then he's finished.
It's hard keeping them entertained isn't it?!

@pinkdatdreams not sure, charged it up and it did nothing. I can return it and get another one, it's just very annoying.

DS (3.5) still doesn't like crafts that much either. I've mostly given up, DD seems interested in Colouring so I'm hoping she will be

@MonkeyPuddle sadly we only have a shower at the moment but she does like to sit at the bottom and play for a while so may just have to do that a bit more often!

Water pump arrived and on charge. I'm not too hopeful though as the box is battered and looks very old.

Oh God BertieBotts that day sounds exhausting and also familiar- we're always trying to get stuff in the car that shouldn't really fit but does

Camomila congratulations on the walking child! Hurray!

souperspooker glad you're feeling better, and I absolutely love your bath sludge idea. Keeping that one for the next rainy day.

drumst1ck when DD2 was about that age I took her to messy play sessions at a local church hall, and apart from the messy play stuff, they did lots of footprint/handprint crafts. Making the babies walk along the page with green paint on their feet and then adding googly eyes to make a caterpillar, that sort of thing. Easter chicks out of yellow handprints (googly eyes, orange triangle for a beak) it was actually lovely because OK DD wasn't exactly doing it all by herself, but they were nice to keep.

But the genius way they stopped paint and messy play stuff going everywhere was by putting everything into those inflatable paddling pools - you know the ones that are about - £5 and only really for babies and toddlers. I thought it was a brilliant idea.

I'm sorry to hear that the pump purchasers have had no luck, what a shame. Are none of them working?

And sorry if I've missed anybody - I was back at work today (and got to wear mascara and a really lovely pair of trousers I haven't had a chance to wear) and it was so busy, so I was scan reading on my break. Back home to toddlerland for another week now!

Maybe we peaked at kinetic sand? Maybe we’re dreaming too big?

Thanks, DS1 was 15m and tall for his age when he learnt to walk so this leeny walking baby looks so odd to us

@drumst1ck how about a treasure basket with lots of different textures...you could put in some fabrics, something wooden, something metal and I find silicone kitchen utensils work really well.

DS1, DH and I all have allergies so we've never done a lot of messy play (because it would end up with someone getting a rash) DS2 doesn't seem to have inherited the dry itchy skin but would just eat it (rice krispies, cornflour) instead

When I used to work in a nursery what we used to do with the older babies is cover a whole table with white paper (stick it down) and let them have a go with the big crayons. You could probably use a coffee table to be the right height for a standing up baby.

Ooh thanks for the ideas everyone! I'll be cracking out the paddling pool and paint tomorrow I think!

Oh no on the pumps! Ours worked well - until enough random crap was added to the water that it got blocked (since unblocked). We added mouldable soap today - found in the middle aisle at Aldi. The paw patrol got stuck in mounds of pink soap and we had to pour water over to dissolve it and rescue them.

Started weaning DS2 today. I predict he will be an eater! Actually I’m hoping that he will do the typical baby thing of eating everything, and that might persuade DS1 to eat something which isn’t beige or fruit.

@ReallySpicyCurry2 well I'm quite jealous of your sea air. Your veg could be high in iodine if you are by the sea which is fantastic.

@WeSearchedHereWeSearchedThere also jealous of your chickens. I had chickens but our garden is too small really.

@PinkDaydreams can you let us know how the pump is. Can't decide if we want one that turns off automatically after two minutes or one that stays on.

Big news here: we all got dressed today at the same time. No one was naked... total miracle.

Today was mostly DS2 begging to go up DS1's ladder again and being told no :o

It also seems the move to the new room has put the kibosh on his nap. I suppose it was about time. DH is very upset though!

It snowed and he wanted to go out for a walk but then refused to let anyone put clothes on him, so we didn't.