Finally starting to lose it stuck in the house with a 14 month old. What else can I do?

[TheHumanRepresentative]

We've been stuck in the house for about two weeks now. No car and no public transport to go anywhere. We can't even get out on a walk because of the weather.

We've exhausted all the "baby sensory" play ideas we can find. Played with all the toys and read all the books a million times. We've built a fort. Baked snacks. Played in the bath. Given into a few episodes of Peppa pig. I'm out of ideas.

She's also teething so spending a lot of time making an awful whining noise at me.

What else can I do to make the day go by?

Why can’t you go for a walk? Where do you live?
can you invite mums round for playdates? Can you get to a local shopping mall or even local supermarket and walk around and explore?
no playgroups in your area?

There's about a foot of snow outside so too deep for her to walk in and the paths aren't cleared enough to push the pram in.

I have a playdate scheduled next week, but I can't get anywhere else in the meantime.

Put her in a carrier and go outside or as seen on our local Facebook put the pushchair in a sledge!! Or just her in the sledge might be better!

Take photos- there’s some good ideas on Instagram and Pinterest.
Basically fake it until you make it!!
Have some hobbies for you in the background you can dip in and out of:-
Family tree
Decorating
Craft
Jigsaw

Soon you will be able to go out
Is there a friend who could pick you up?
Best of luck

Couldn’t agree more! I grew up in the mountains and people get snowed in all the time but I have never heard of anyone not leaving rhe house for two weeks. My cousins took her babies outside in North Sweden when it was -20 and snow everywhere. Buy a snow suit for your child (a ton on vinted) and enjoy some fresh air.

I really do sympathise. I’ve been told ‘just to get out on a walk’ on here before and I do think some MNetters don’t realise what some places are like in the winter. We live on a country road that is shin deep in a flood at the moment and cars keep getting stuck in the ditches!

Fourteen months is such a difficult age as they aren’t really into TV or characters, imaginative play is limited and even books are so short!

Everyone will say it but go for a walk anyway?The baby is secure in the buggy and you have something to hang onto if it's icy!

Gather old cardboard boxes, cut slots in them, post jar lids, little toys, whatever you can find. A cereal box with one small hole at the top and another in the opposite corner in the side is surprisingly hilarious IIRC. Drums from pots and pans. Wet wipes dusting, sweeping, go all Montessori and start teaching her to wipe a table. If you become genuinely engrossed in something you need to get done, and can find some token way to involve her, she might find that a lot more compelling than baby toys.

I've tried the carrier but she has hated it since she was a newborn. The temperature also went up a bit yesterday and then back down so it's really icy and I don't want to fall holding her.

I have a sledge ordered! Hopefully it will come soon.

Rinse & repeat is all you can do if you can't get out & no one can come to you.

make sock puppets.
Hand & foot prints (paint).

do stuff around the house that needs doing, like sorting out wardrobes, kitchen cupboards deep cleaning her room...whatever, they're pretty much amused by just being with you & helping.

I have left the house technically. We've played outside but it's only fun in about 15 minute chunks. She has a snowsuit but she still can't walk in the snow because it's too deep

The paths aren't clear so I literally can't push the pram.

Thank you for the rest of those ideas! We will do some of those today!

Yes, thank you! It's literally not possible. We live very rurally and nothing is plowed except the main roads.

It's definitely a tough age in that way!

Any family or friends that would like to come and stay for a couple of nights?

teach her 'row row row your boat' with her teddies.

10 in the bed.

counting objects, so she gets the connection not just parroting counting.

dancing to music YOU like, it's less brain frying than just children's music.

yoga, she's a good age to start joining in. In her own way.

what do you enjoy doing?

Look up ‘fiveminutemum’ online or on instagram. She has lots of ideas for play for ages 1-3 and beyond