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.

@losttgetastefordahlias I get the new week dread to, the weekend seems so far away.

@monkeypuddle some great ideas, sounds like you'll have fun. Your prize strategy is a good plan.

Hi all. It's been a few weeks since I commented, but we are dragging ourselves through winter. My DD is 2 and 2 months. The hits last week were basic scooping pasta from one bowl to another, drawing on A3 paper stuck on our patio doors (mainly me drawing letters and she identifies them) playdough snakes, flower pot painting, and gardening (digging holes in my raised bed while I deweeded). This week I have plans to get her to put spaghetti through colander holes, unwrap some of her little toys that I wrap in tin foil, planting cress, and a colour match game where I stick coloured paper on the patio doors and she has to take some of those coloured circle stickers that you use for filing and stick them on the correct colour. At the minute everything is 'buuuuu' (blue) so I am trying to assess if she is actually colourblind 😆 I also may shove a painting session in there somewhere in desperation. It's meant to be very very cold here this week. We went on a walk yesterday and she just stood 5 minutes in and cried and refused to move. It was 2 degrees on a hill. I don't blame her.

I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. Please could I join? I have two toddlers: 2 and 4 and neither sleep well. I'm entertaining them as best as I can during the day (we do tuff trays, phonics, baking and crafts. Go for walks but it is tough). The last few weeks have become really difficult so It is nice to know I am not alone.

Morning all!
Big walk yesterday (well little one in the pram as he's not good on the reins) which ended in him screaming, I think he was too cold, which then made me feel like the worlds worst mother. Big bubble bath when we got in though which cheered him up.
Today I am going to try out the gellibaff for the first time. I'll put it in the make shift tuff tray I've got going on ( a large deep sided cat litter tray ) and will report back how we got on!
So annoyed with myself, forgot to pick up cookie cutters for the kinetic sand when I went to Asda.
Loving the tuff tray pictures but you're making me very jealous that I just haven't the space for one! I was trying to figure out again if we could get one but the only space is plop in the middle of the living room and squeezing past it a million times a day will drive me mad!

Morning
We finally got some snow yesterday, it didn't settle much but blew around lots.
DH and DS2 didn't stay out too long but DS1 and I stayed out for hours and loved it. Our cheeks were bright red when we got in.

It snowed a bit more over night and settled a tiiiiny bit so I'll get DM to take the DC out again today while we work.

(Mum lived between the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps when we were babies so she will bundle both DC up like Michelin men )

DS2 has started biting He seems to think it's a greeting. I had to 'tell him off' (very gently) for DS1 sake who got his arm bit this morning.

@Camilla - DS was a biter, (then a hair puller, headbutter) were now trying to get past the hitting stage. It was getting better before lockdown but not so much now. Hopefully your DS'swill be a quick phase

Stealing some of your ideas @TwirpingBird!

Welcome @Crowsandshivers the more the merrier! Feel free to swap ideas and have a really bloody good moan about things!

@PinkDaydreams I has DS in the tub with loads of blue jellibaff when he was younger, he was in there for hours, he came out with a definite blue tinge that was there for about 5 days 😂

@Camomila DS was a biter too, lots of sharp ‘no’ and ‘xxx are for kisses and cuddles not hurty biting’ seemed to do the trick.

We’ve got snow forecast for the next 48 hours, DS is at his dads today so I’m going to sit with baby DD and snuggle on the sofa.

@TwirpingBird everything is yellow in our house! Well red and orange are definitely yellow, blue and green sometimes identified correctly.

@Crowsandshivers welcome! We are good at ideas, inspiration, moaning and commiserating, which I’m pretty sure is the combo every parent of toddlers/preschoolers needs right now...

Tiny smattering of snow here, DS1 loving it. He’s at preschool for an extra day today as we are having downstairs loo/utility replumbed and tiled and I cannot spend days trying to keep him from “helping”. So I have pretty much the same plan as @MonkeyPuddle - sofa and baby cuddles!

This weekend DS1 suddenly got back in to his paw patrol toys, which was a godsend. I can cope with paw patrol over the whole house if it’s keeping him occupied! He goes through phases where he’ll play for an hour by himself quite happily, and phases where he’s not content unless all four limbs are wrapped around me.

Also look at the baby feet. She’s making me broody for number 3.

Currently trapped under DD, well I could put her down but I don’t want to. Have text DP who’s working upstairs a gif of a kettle, I’m sure he’ll get the hint 😂

I'm hoping that once DS2 gets the hang of kissing he'll stop the hug biting. He especially likes noses!

Aww look at those little feet @MonkeyPuddle so sweet

Hi everyone
My friend was kindly clearing out her busy books and gave me them. So ds has been playing for at least in hour with Thomas cars and beauty and the beast figures and mats.
It's ds 4th birthday tomorrow so I'm sure his presents will keep him amused. He's meant to be at nursery today but we live rurally and been a few reports of minor crashes due to snow. I don't risk the journey with snow.not worth it for a few hours

Oh my goodness, @MonkeyPuddle those tiny baby feet are gorgeous!

Busy books, I'll have to look for some of those, either postman pat or Thomas the tank. Thank you for the idea @jobbyjg

Asda this morning only had round cookie cutters. I was hoping to get a mixture of shapes so I now feel a bit deflated as o was certain Asda would do them. Home bargains next door only had flowers. Don't really want to order from Amazon as I'm having probably about three deliveries a week from them now and it's getting embarrassing!

Ive had an idea but not sure of it's utter rubbish! Animal figures set in jelly? Or would it be a big sticky mess? Similar to figures set in ice . Wise Mumsnetters I know I can rely on you to tell me I'm absolutely ridiculous or yes what a good idea!!

@pinkdaydreams I'm a big fan of messy play but your idea makes me twitchy! I'm sure toddler will love it though! I would use a deep tub if you're going to do it.

We've been enjoying "disco baths" this weekend - chuck some glowsticks in the bath, lights off, music on, sorted for about 45 mins.

My ds, who has been cold free for ages, has returned to nursery and is now more snot than child, I forgot those joys!

One thing I've changed in lockdown is cosleeping - ds now goes to bed at 7 with dh and I and we have a chat and a story then he falls asleep often so do i and is transferred into his bed. A few nights a week he ends up coming in with me in the spare bed at about 4 in the morning. Part of my brain keeps telling me what a rod for my own back I'm making but I'm trying to listen more to the part that says it's a safe and secure thing in a very toast turvy world for him at the mo, anyone else find themselves "breaking the rules"? Plus ds is likely to be our only unless I keep looking at those baby feet upthread!) And I'm sure he'll be horrified at the suggestion of snuggles before long!

So far today we have done building towers from blocks, reading, kinetic sand, pasta scooping, spaghetti through a colander, breakfast, lunch and snacks, playing with cars, water painting, playdough, spinning on daddy's computer chair, and attempted (a failed) nap.

How the F is it only 2:30??

Today's (short lived) activity was playing with an old egg box - I found several sort of egg-shaped or small ball-shaped items and filled it up, he then opened and closed it and took them in and out.

I loooove co-sleeping but trying to keep DS2 in his own room as I can't realistically have him coming in when the newborn is here, and I don't want him to feel like it's the baby that's pushed him out if that makes sense. They do get there in the end. DS1 coslept for a couple of years and then when he was 4 I brought him into bed when he was having nightmares and he said "Can I go back to my own bed now?" and never came back :o

DD is being less cute and more vomiting all over me. She’s getting weighed again on Thursday with the GP so I’m hoping we can discuss increasing her omeprazole dosage, she’s in pain with the acid again.

Have ordered a busy book, not seen those before they look cute!

@PinkDaydreams I’d do the jelly idea but do it in the bath, contain the mess and wash it away!

@meow1989 we do disco baths! I bought a cheap hot tub disco light from amazon, it’s fab! I quite like it on when I’m in the shower too 😂

@TwirpingBird put the telly on, you’ve mummed enough today

@meow1989 DS1 is 3 and still cosleeping. We have just put a single mattress in the room to start suggesting to him he might like his own space! But not going to kick him out until he wants it, as you say, things are so topsy turvey at the moment, why not offer that connection. Plus most of my friends’ little ones still wake in the night and the parents then spend half the night trying to resettle them in their room, that sounds a lot harder to me! (Also we have DS2, six months, just because there’s a toddler in the main bed doesn’t mean there aren’t other options!).

The jelly talk reminds me of nursery doing a tuff tray - plastic insects buried in jelly. Apparently DS1 just went and got a spoon, tucked in to the jelly and ignored the insects .

@WeSearchedHereWeSearchedThere I used to take DS to organised messy play sessions when he was a tiddler, loads of tuff trays dotted around the room, various edible and no edible messy play set ups on each tray. DS essentially treated it as a giant buffet and spent the entire time just munching his way around.

Hi can i join please?
I can't believe I have only just come across this thread!! I feel like I needed you people a year ago in lockdown 1 🤣

I have a 2yo and a 5mo. I'm not very good with activities or playing for very long with the kids - my brain needs more stimulation 😩 which I constantly feel awful about.
We definitely need to cut down on the screen time. My 2yo DD loves play doh and dollies atm though.

I'm going back to read and catch up on this whole thread (only got to page 5 and wanted to say hi!) and note down all your lovely creative ideas down 😊 thankyou!!!!

Hello @Crowsandshivers and @CescaNicole. Welcome! Hope you will find some good ideas here to help you through the rest of the bleak lockdown winter. And if all else fails, there's lots of sympathy from us all .

DS nursery shut today because of the snow...frustrating but they're mostly outside at the moment to reduce the Covid risk and it's just too cold and icy for them to run their usual activities. So I'm balancing DS and trying to work (but mostly focusing on DS and apologising for work being late). We had kinetic sand again this morning...but I did add in some dumper trucks and a mini cement mixer to spice things up a bit . Going to bury some plastic coins as buried treasure so DS can hunt for them.

We've had an organised day so far - we've been for a cold and icy walk (came back earlier than usual as I lost feeling in my toes!), I've done a load of washing, kitchen surfaces are clean for once, dinner is sweating in the slow cooker and I've put our spare tuff tray outside with some plastic sea animals and water to freeze for tomorrow. Feeling very smug but I'm sure that will wear off soon . DS is having an unexpected nap so I'm trying to catch up with work/emails. We've bought a packet mix of Paw Patrol cupcakes so going to make those when he wakes up.

@MonkeyPuddle. So jealous of those little feet!!!

Todays most successful activity involved number cards 1-10 jumbled up and DS needed to put them in order. He decided that he needed to do an obstacle course between doing each number which extended it and was exercise. It was one of four activities we completed from the preschool 'suggested' activities. Another one was doing different animal walks which he liked.

That's probably my motivation for the week done

I feel like today has really dragged.
Wall this morning which I was going to go to the playground but it was far too cold. Gellibaff didn't go down well at all, played with for the minutes but somehow has ended up in the living room and all over the kitchen floor, it's a pain to get up! Definately something I'll use in the summer in the sand and water table out i the garden.
Reusable stickers, normal stickers, pasta from one pot toanother and scoops, kinetic sand, playing with cars and buses, half an hour of iPad, indoor tent, singing, trains, books, balls down cardboard tubes, water play with cups and bubbles, animal figures, that's all just today!! It's frustrating playing with one thing for five mins then him getting bored of it.

I feel awful but I can't wait for nursery to be back open again to give him some variety and also give me a chance to have a cuppa and some cake without getting jumped on!

@PinkDaydreams. Yesterday was like that for us... dragged on and on and I became steadily grumpier.

I honestly can't wait for preschool to open again. I feel bad saying it but I can't keep up the stimulation DS needs. He needs the social interaction and the brain power use