Cooking and housework with a busy 16 month old - how?

[Del453]

How does anyone do anything with a busy 16 month old? I’m not exaggerating but from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep he runs around climbing on things, climbing the sofa, table etc. I’ve put all the dining chairs upstairs as he would move them (yes move them, he’s bloody strong) within like 2 seconds and be climbing on stuff. I’m with him every second as I’m worried he will fall or hurt himself. I can’t do anything. House is a mess, other 2 kids I’m barely taking care of (older). My girls were nothing like this. Advice and tips please. He’s always been hyper but this lockdown making things worse as obviously older ones not in school and I’m not taking him to baby/toddler groups.

Get a stair gate on the living room door so you can shut him in one room that is as safe as possible and has his toys in and then you can leave him to it for a few minutes at a time while you do stuff in the kitchen or whatnot.

Have you tried paintbrushes and a cup of water in the high chair? DS able to escape harness so we got rid of it; but I found letting him make mess with water and a brush helped (and other cups and bowls to pour the water in etc). Easy to clean and buys you time

Nap time and bed time I’m afraid. We had a playpen but he hated it and would scream. He also doesn’t like being in the high chair but can be occupied for short time periods with CBeebies on the iPad now. Tried toys in the kitchen etc but he gets bored easily and then either starts climbing or gets a bit destructive. Also we had to childproof everything, move dog beds / bowls etc.

I feel your pain and we’re working from home aswell - the house looks like a tornado has been through it

When mine where that age the slow cooker was my friend for meals and tidied when they were in bed.

I read your post and it could be me!! Exactly the same an extremely lively toddler son with 2 girls of 6 and 4. He is a complete nightmare, our living room furniture is slowly disappearing we only have a table, sofa, and sideboard (which is full of his toys which he never plays with!) he prefers to jump off the sofa/pull chairs about to play with light switches etc. Some days I get so stressed and end up walking in circles picking up the same crap. During his nap time I make sure I have an activity planned with the older two, I let them choose a game or we do painting, baking, board games etc. The housework only gets done when he’s in bed!

Been trying more ideas from here thank you everyone!

@crispysausagerolls I’ll try that tomorrow sounds like a great idea. He does love making a mess with water!

@Pleasedontdrawonyoursister wow that is so weirdly the same. That’s amazing you get to do activities with your girls whilst he’s sleeping, I’m hoping I can get in a routine with lockdown and do some too, feel like a bad mum as I just collapse on sofa when he naps! How is your son at sleeping at night? Please any tips

Playpen you get those big hexagon ones. I baby proofed conservatory, sponge mat floor and put gate over entrance so a secure space she could be safely in.

Oh I feel your pain, nursery has closed down, DH and I are both frontline keyworkers, we're working opposite shifts and getting the odd day WFH to catch up on paperwork etc. DS (16 months) is like a a tornado, every night the house is clean before DH and I go to bed, it feels like minutes before it's trashed the next day. I'm so exhausted I think I'm starting to hallucinate. I've just sat down and had dinner, got to be up at six..... Usually he has swimming lessons, toddler music group, nursery, two days of the week with grandmas who take him here there and everywhere, we go out every weekend and now he just has none of it and all of this energy!

If I put him in his playpen he just goes wild, it was fine when he was tiny, but he will not be caged.... He's also decided he doesn't need more than one nap a day!

Also naptime and after 7pm. That's just loading/emptying dishwasher and washing machine though, with a quick wipe of kitchen worktops. Actual cleaning (steam mop, hoover, bathrooms) is done at weekends while one child-handles.

Playpen in front of tv, sorted.

My DS was a climber too (still is) and was go, go, go from morning to night (still is!). I found a toy vacuum cleaner and a broom were helpful. My DS pushes his little vacuum around while I hoover so that we are doing it together. He loves sweeping too, so I give him a dust pan and brush or the broom while I'm in the kitchen making lunch. Cloths to clean the windows or kitchen surfaces too. He has so much energy so you may as well put it to good use!

Playpen for the older ones with their desk etc in there so that he can't dismantle their jigsaws, mangle their books etc.

Playpen or high chair in front of cbeebies for my ds23 months

You've just made me remember why I struggled so much when my eldest was 16 months old. I also had a two week old newborn. My other half used to come home, see the mess and wonder what I'd been doing all day. Obviously assuming that I'd be sat with my feet up drinking many cups of tea!

Once number two was born, he was breastfed so other half used that as an excuse to no longer do any bedtimes or night wakings and very little household stuff. All because he had a job so therefore I had it much easier in his eyes.....

I baby proofed the whole room. Soft jigsaw mats on the floor. Playpen around other areas I didn't want the kids to reach and stargates at all doors in that room. Could see most of the room from the kitchen.

Drawing in the high chair buys me a good 30 minutes! It’s a tough age, I hope it gets easier from here.

I had a child that age worked full time e out 8 to 7. House spotless always. You just always clean up as you go. So nothing is ever untidy your then hoover and mop and clean on Sunday’s.
On Sunday’s I’d house top to bottom, all washing and ironing and a roast dinner sometimes the garden two. Two kids 10 and 5. Full time job. No partner. House always pristine. It’s easy

Del453 I could have written this post, except my older girl is 9. My DS is 15 months and is so determined and strong, he likes to climb on everything. He will hang by his arms on the stair gate, drag furniture around, band anything he can find on the windows.

I’ve set up a kitchen drawer full of stuff it is safe for him to play with - plastic cutlery and pots and packages that won’t hurt him if he gets inside them. I just let him play on the floor while I cook. He loves to sweep with my mini kitchen broom. I accept he will make a mess. (The other day I found a packet of custard cream biscuits in the washing machine, and last week he managed to split a wooden spoon in half by banging it too hard but mostly it’s been ok.j

Our daily walk is essential, I let him toddle until he is exhausted. He loves it.

If I have something I really need to do, I get a spare double duvet out and chuck it on the floor in a rumpled heap with some toys. He likes to hunt for the toys, roll around on the duvet, etc. As long as I don’t do it often it has novelty factor.

I have been known to let him sit in the bathroom floor playing with a bowl of warm water while I clean the bathroom, works well if you want to change him anyway. Squirting him with the shower adds giggles. Give him a cloth and he’ll probably copy you trying to wash the floor at the end.

Inadvertently I discovered he is fascinated if I colour in the palm of his hand with a felt tip ( watch though, at the point he tries to lick it off you have to wash hands). That can buy 3 mins for a very small investment of maternal supervision.

It’s all about distraction with new things when I’m busy, asking DD to play with him for 2 mins when I just cannot hold him or entertain him, and then giving him a lot of good quality play when I’m not too busy.

I adore my baby boy but flipping heck it is hard work!

Two kids 10 and 5. Full time job. No partner. House always pristine. It’s easy

@FabbyChix do you want a sticker? Not the same working full time- you and the children are not home to make a mess and you're not physically run ragged looking after an 18 month old all day. The only mess you have is on the weekends. This is a completely different situation (And I worked full time too which has different challenges but keeping the house clean is not one of them)

And to OP I dont think it is fair your husband locks himself away 8-8. He should down tools at 6pm to help with the childrens' bedtime. And resume work after they are asleep if he has to.

You should also ask him for a 30 minute break at lunchtime each day so you can go have a cup of tea in peace/ play with the girls/ whatever you fancy. He's checked out of family life and you're not getting any of the benefits of him working from home (he's logging in earlier but still logging out late despite no longer having a commute). I very much doubt he's doing 12 hours work flat out with no breaks...He's having an easy time of this lockdown while you bear all the hard aspects.

Fuck knows, but posting for tips. My 14 month old is just starting to walk, super clingy and frustrated, and we're both trying to work from home as well. Housework gets done by whoever isn't parenting after work, or in a quick blitz in a break. We have no time to ourselves because by the time he's in bed we're both too tired to do anything. The bathroom hasn't been cleaned in three weeks and the kitchen floor is revolting.

We do put him in the high chair for a while but he gets very shouty and throws everything. We've put the travel cot in front of the TV so we can get some work done, but again you can't leave him for long (and I feel ridiculously guilty). The living room is childproofed up to a point but I couldn't just leave him, he'd find something to injure himself on. Pp who said to put him in the bath with toys - he would just try to climb out and hurt himself?! Oh and if I take him in the garden to burn off some energy he just tries to eat stones and bugs.

It's really, really hard OP. You have my sympathy.

Playpen or high chair although did he you fasten them into the high chair as they quickly learnt how to climb out.

Your DH needs to reduce his hours - he could look after them for an hour or so in the morning, lunchtime and then after 5.30. If he takes them all for a walk you could have a break or catch up around the house. You could take them for a separate walk which would give them some more exercise.