Going completely insane with toddler at home

[cloudbutter]

I have avoided admitting this, but I'm going completely nuts. 18 month old who is very active. Started walking at 9 months. GP and health visitor have both commented on how he's a handful. He's obsessed with climbing. He's generally very good natured but isn't interested in any arts and crafts or anything that involves concentrating for more than 5 seconds. He just wants to climb. If I do in the kitchen he screams because he wants me to pull the chair out so he can climb on the table. In the playroom he just wants to stand on top of his bigger toys. Tries to climb up the clothes horse. Has learnt to climb out of the bath. I broke down in tears when I took my eyes off him for 30 seconds and found him standing in the toilet when I was running his bath. I have ordered a small climbing frame and take him out for a daily walk but I am going slightly crazy. How can I calm him down a bit whilst soft play/park etc is off limits? I just want to cry every day when he wakes up from his nap.

Worth reading into schemas and seeing if he falls into any of those categories; then you can plan activities at home that will satisfy them.
Totally empathise as I can imagine how hard it is.
My daughter is a bit over 2 and has never climbed before but has recently wanted to. I brought our climbing cube / slide into the house and redirect her there if she’s climbing on other furniture.
Also bought a big dinosaur paddling pool with slide for her to leap about on (didn’t put water in) and recently put a plank of wood at an incline (up onto her climbing cube slide) and she spent AGES going up and down that. Since doing that she’s been climbing a lot less over the course of the day.
Not sure if those help you but you are not alone!

I feel you op. I could have written this myself. It's so hard and we are in a flat too. Just had to move the front room around to stop DS climbing out of the window. I'm drinking before 5 many days of the week and bloody love bedtime but trying to wfh too which is just shit. I'm hoping it will get easier

Both my boys were climbers, I felt like your post was a description of my life at that stage! They still climb anything they can - trees, walls, fences. Neither have ever fallen to date!

We pretty much gave up trying to stop them at that young age and just fit out the front room to be safe. We bought foam floor mats, kept big cushions on the floor beside favoured climbing spots and moved furniture away to let them roam and climb freely over the sofa.

The climbing frame sounds great, have you thought about a toddler trampoline? We had a little one with a handle they could grip whilst bouncing.

GOOD LUCK.

@amazemae dad not around. Hasn't seen him since he was 3 months old.

The climbing thing I've bought is huge and is going in the lounge. No fucks given!

Is it possible that he’s doing it to get a reaction out of you? If it is the way to deal with that is to ignore it (as safely as you can) and give LOTS of ott attention for other things. I don’t mean walk off or shrug your shoulders, but for instance you could say “let me show you how to climb down safely... go backwards, one foot, then another, that’s it! Great boy! And down, down, down we go...you did it. All the way down (big squeezy hug) so you haven’t reacted to him climbing but you’ve given a huge reaction to the process of coming down.
And then try and give him big, positive attention before he climbs, and if he still races up, take him down without saying a word. And then resume the positive fun and attention for another activity. (This is exhausting, I won’t lie, but if you can outlast him, it’s very effective)

On the other hand there may be a sensory seeking element in his need to climb. (You might have an idea which it is, but if you don’t just work on the assumption that it’s both)
Try some activities that give really strong proprioceptive feedback - crawling, rolling, being squashed (carefully) under cushions, hammocks etc. You may have to make these really fun games to compete with the climbing. At 18 months babies have developed a great sense of mischief and fun, so play on that. Get him to crawl under a chair and act really confused when he comes out the other end...then make the tunnel longer by joining chairs together. Get him to complete an obstacle course. Make a sausage roll (roll him up in a blanket) and pretend to eat him as he kicks himself free.

It’s exhausting being with a toddler so you have to plan activities that wear them out more than you. Scavenger hunts in the garden can be brilliant (you sit and relax and send him off to find random items).

Alternate a couple of high energy activities with a calming sensory activity (water/sand/play dough/finger painting). There’s a lot to be said, by the way, for doing these sorts of things in the bath or shower.

Google strings like occupational therapy games at home, for ideas you can adapt that don’t need you to order special equipment.

And one more tip, it can be safer to teach him to tell you that he is going to climb (and eventually to ask) and do it with you, than to try and forbid it outright. That’s a perfectly fine way to deal with it too if it suits you better.

If you have the funds, invest in a pikler triangle. Providing a safe space to climb will help x