13m-o forgotten what NO means...

[mmmerangue]

When my DS started crawling he seemed to quickly picked up what 'No' meant and was at first quite easy about leaving whatever he was told to, or easily distracted at least...

He has just turned one and seems to have decided that the word is not worth listening to - he is forever pulling at cables, bashing at the TV screen and buttons, pulling things out of cupboards or (now that he has learned to open it) the freezer (brilliant!), bashing mirrors or our glass coffee table, playing with our shoes, crawling into the kitchen and rummaging in recycling box, trying to get bottles off the side of the bath... etc etc!

He has learned that radiators are hot thanks to his granny giving a sharp intake of breath and saying 'hot!' ever time he tries to touch. Now he goes up to any radiator hot or cold and copies her, putting his hand on it and breathing in o.@ -sigh-

We have baby proofed as much as possible. I try to just let him get on with the 'exploring' if it's not actively dangerous, until for instance i get sick of hearing half a word out of every show on Sky that half hour... But the things which are dangerous or when they become really irritating, a gentle 'No' or an explanation of why not (obviously he is too young to really understand but that is more for my own practice) has no effect!

He can be happily playing with his toys and the minute I move to do chores etc. he is up and into something he shouldn't be.. obviously most of the time I am playing with him or at least sitting near him and can stop him from getting into things before he gets there, but sometimes I have stuff to do!

I usually try three times to put him back with his toys but he just turns back around and goes for whatever he wants to do again! So after three I end up putting him in his highchair.

I don't want him to think of his highchair as a 'punishment place', he is already fussy with his food as it is - we don't have stairs as we live in a flat so there is no 'naughty step' and his attention span is too short anyway. I have tried a few light slaps to the wrist but either they are too light or he just really doesn't care and will carry on regardless - once got annoyed and the slap was rather harder than I meant and he cried and I felt awful - would really rather leave that for when he is older and should be able to be reasoned with!

Just don't know what to doooooooooo help please before he electrocutes himself :/ so far while writing this he has taken all hubbys payslips from file under my desk, screwed them up blah blah, pulled half a pack of wipes out of the packet, climbed all over his highchair fallen over and hit his head off it, and shredded several envelopes (I rescued the contents first..), tried to get into the kitchen 3 times but the door is shut (haha, until he can reach the handles!)

Sorry for the long post o.o

its normal, my 15mth old is the same, she knows what no means and chooses to ignore me, distraction is the main thing at this age i am afraid, it get rather wearing! try to limit your use of the word no for when you really need it if you can.

do you have space for a playpen you can pop him in when you really need to get stuff done? just one of those ones that folds up again so its out the way?

Blimey, you've got a lively one on your hands!
I agree with you, don't use the highchair as a place to be restricted, unless you are providing some entertainment for him, similarly the hand slaps are not going to work - he doesn't know its 'naughty' he is just very curious and exploring his world. You are going to have to work hard to keep him occupied!
If you need to keep him in one place safely, have you considered a play pen? You could put toys in there while you need to be doing something else.
I suspect you're over using 'no' which is why it's not working anymore, so I'd suggest you try and use more tactics to distract him.
One thing which worked with my DD (who was totally different to your DS - I barely had to babyproof anything) was to have really interesting toys/items that she only got to play with when I needed her to be fully distracted (nappy changing for example) and she only got to have it for a little while.

I have got a travel cot, may be time to use that again - he grew very annoyed with it when he learned to crawl but might have forgotten about it by now! For chore time i usually give him a selection on toys in his highchair and he throws them all on the floor and i pick them up and round and round we go inbetween the hoovering laundry and dishes lol!

Probably am overusing 'No'... other suggestions? just keep on with distraction distraction distraction?

sorry it is just distraction, distraction distraction at this age, my dds fave trick is to climb onto the dining rm table using the chairs, she then stands there looking all chuffed with herself, its a pita, i end up putting the chairs onto the table so she cant climb up!

but yes i pick her up, take her away from whatever it is i dont want her fiddling with and try and find something she likes, she is very into balls throwing and rolling them, we have some that light up that she likes so they are good for distraction, or a snack, rice cakes, cheese etc, when all else fails a chocolate button is good, or take her outside for a few mins as then she usually forgets whatever it was that she was fixated with!

my dd will also now sit on the worktop whilst i do the washing up,she is RIGHT next to me so i can grab her if she tries to move, but generally she is quite good and will sit there, i giver her a handful of bubbles to play with or a wooden spoon etc, that buys me 5 mins to do the washing up!

your ds sounds absolutly normal and lovely.
they are just destruction mashines at that age.
play-pen so he can play without getting into danger whilst you get stuff done.