Please, someone tell me they have a toddler like this??

[leftmysociallifeatthedoor]

ðd is 18 months old.

She is into everything. I used to say that when ds was little, what a fool I was! She never stops - she climbs on anything, climbs up and over things, stands on windowsills, opens stairgates, climbs out of cots etc.

When we go to anyones house she is all over the place, in cupboards, touching wires, pulling things out the washing machine.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the car seat straps.

She's been walking almost 9 months so is quite well balanced etc. She doesn't talk much because she rarely sits still. She very rarely sits and plays with anything and if the tv is on she stands to watch it and bounds around. She's just started liking books.

I don't know how to describe her accurately because ds was a 'lively' toddler but this is on a whole different level. She is fiercely independent and stubborn but also adorable and funny too.

I'm knackered and am worried people are thinking I can't control my child i cant but she's only 18 months.......

Sounds like the problem is....you have an 18 month old!

Lol. I know. I know that ds was a normal 18 month old but she really is just something else. She's wearing me down out.

I have a 15mo exactly like this. I go to work just to get a break from her.

She doesn't walk anywhere, she runs. She cannot walk past a cupboard or drawer without emptying it.

I can't remember my first 2 dc being quite as bad as this.

The only thing that gets her to calm down is a mickey mouse christmas special that we sky +'d. She has learnt how to get into the planner herself so we end up watching it about 4-5 times a day.

I'm hoping she slows down soon. I'm exhausted!

Can't offer any help but can empathise! My DS isn't happy unless he's hurling himself or jumping off something. He's 2 and has been like this for a while. Dread taking him to friends houses or pretty much most places and I'm exhausted!!

He will sit and watch cebeebies sometimes which he wouldn't do a few months ago so maybe there is hope for your DD!

DH says at least he's not boring but you know what, I wouldn't mind boring sometimes! :o

Mine is 2.5 and still the same. I'm constantly exhausted.

Yep, I think I have one of those in the making and I'm exhausted at 14 months! Lord help me...

Yes. DD was such an easy going, calm, content little thing, DS is a little terror! We had the HV out when he was 16m as I was really struggling with him - tantrums, head banging, climbing, bolting, head butting etc (not to mention the hell that was nappy changing) He slept on a mattress on a floor for 4months because he kept climbing out of his cot.

He is now 20m and I think we are getting there. He listens more, he seems to understand everything we tell him and the tantrums are few and far between (well, 2-3 mild ones a day instead of 6 or so huge ones)

The HV said that he basically thinks he is a 4yr old (like his sister) I have found treating him like I would an older child has helped loads.

Yes. My DD1 is now 3 and a half. We are totally and utterly exhausted beyond all imagination. Luckily DD2 is a parody of a second child.

I don't have a child like this ......

..... any more! But DS, who is nearly 8, was exactly like your DD when he was a toddler. I was more knackered than the most knackered woman on a planet of knackeredness. I still shudder to think of how he wouldn't play with toys - he just destroyed stuff. Furniture preferably, although he liked skirting boards and electric wiring too. He got through/around every form of childproofing known to man. I couldn't even cook a meal if he was awake, as he would be marauding around under my feet, unpicking the "child-proof" locks and stabbing me with the sharp knives that he consequently found in the bloody cutlery drawer ...

God, I'm breaking out in a sweat just thinking about it.

OP, it will pass. DS is now a calm, lovely child. He still loves to destroy things take things apart to see how they work, but we can reason with him and explain that if he takes something to pieces it may not be put-backable afterwards

Plenty of fresh air and exercise helped me stay sane, and it tired DS out so at least he slept well at night and gave me a break then ...!!

Good luck

My DS2 is like this, he is 12 months.

DS1 was (and is) so calm in comparison, it has been a real shock.

DS2 has been crawling since before he was 6 months, and started walking the week before his first birthday. He empties cupboards, thinks he can get down off my bed without help, is practically running already even though he has been walking for less than 3 weeks. I am exhausted.

There appears to be a pattern emerging - DC1 angelic, DC2 a terror - perhaps this is because we do not have the same attention to concentrate on the second, or that they are inspired by the elder? DD2 is nearly 2 and is a NIGHTMARE!

have you got my 13 month old?

Sounds like my daughter, now 22 months. Thankfully, she has stopped trying to break free from her car seat, and will now sit down with a book and some interactive toys, but this is recent. In one hour today I had to remove her from a window ledge, tv bench, coffee table and inside a kitchen unit. valium, this is my DC1!

DD is like this - DS was toddlerish but never this incessant. I think the killer combo is the physical abilities combined with ferocious independence, it's exhausting.

Today we did a long car journey and DD kicked off hugely when DH passed her a box of raisins. It transpired that he had opened it for her the fool and therefore it was tainted and inedible. Every day its punctuated with incidents like this along with frequent head injuries and lots of smashed crockery (she's even demolished most of the Denby, the horror :( ).

We spend a lot of time in the park

My ds1 was a handful for years (now 8.5 and still is) but Ds2 and Dd very calm placid children. I just think some kids are spirited!

Thank you leftmysocial for starting this thread! So nice to see so many of the same traits in others' DC. All my friends kids seem so well behaved by comparison it's embarrassing. He can be very sweet though and will come up unprompted and give me a hug or a kiss makes a change from the biting

Sorry. She woke.

The thing is, people have always commented on how lively ds is - his nursery teacher said she's never seen a boy with so much energy in 20 years of teaching. Dd is him x a million.

I agree she thinks she is much older like ds, and possibly a boy.

Lol at the raisins. Dh stupidly opened her cereal bar the other day. Much screaming ensued. Then he gave her a new one and hadn't opened it. Much screaming ensued. She can't open it herself, she doesn't want us to help BUT she wants to eat it.

I have to open both cereal bars and bananas BUT leave the contents inside to avoid a snack time tantrum. The bloody independence!

Disco - same here!

Ohhhh I had one like this....he started walking at 9 months and was an absolute monster! He did all the behaviours you described and terrorised me for 3 years! If he was my first born I would never have had another one gah. He also never slept properly and had the most spectacular tantrums I have ever seen a child do! I reached new levels of shame I never realised I could in those erm challenging years. Can report that age 4 he is much better now though. He occasionally has a scream if he doesn't get his way but nothing compared to those early years! He is a very funny, lively and strong personality with whom life is never dull!!! Hang on in there.....!

My saving grace is that DS1 is the most placid, kid and sweet natured boy ever with beautiful manners and lovely eating habits....so I can tell people that actually yes I can parent effectively but each child is different!!!!! There was a period where I couldn't take DS2 anywhere for as he would flop to the floor and howl loudly inconsolable for 30+ minutes making soft play/playground/friends houses out of the question. At one point i had everything checked with him as i couldnt believe this was normal or healthy. Happily this delightful phase passed and I am so thankful we can now resume normal everyday tasks that people take for granted!!! I am 31 and one side of my head has gone very grey in last year which I am sure is down to the stress of managing him. Having said all of that, I can't imagine life without him (now the screaming has stopped anyway!!)

just remembered a time when aged about 12 months I heard a funny noise in kitchen, to discover he had broken through stair gate, climbed onto work surface, found my biggest kitchen knife, climbed down and was walking around kitchen stabbing it into the Lino floor as he walked.....arghhh that flashback still makes me shudder to this day.....

My first was like this. He also started walking at 9/10 months, was in to abso-bloomin-every-flippin-thing, and had tantrums so bad he'd pass out from holding his breath. Only a tv screen could pacify him and make him stay mesmerised still enough for us to have a break for him to rest. It put me off having another for 5 years!!!

To reassure you though, he is now a nice 8 year old, energetic yes, but school have to cope with that during the day har de har ha we channel it with sporty activities a couple of times a week. And he is an utter fidget, to the extent that during carpet time in school he has a special place to sit next to the teacher to remind him to sit still and to let her keep him under control Otherwise, he is a lot calmer, happily sits for long periods drawing, playing lego, or staring at any screen, regardless of content

I don't know but maybe it feels more exasperating because yours is a girl, maybe we socially expect girls to be clamer and easier? Dunno. Anyway, like someone said upthread, it's better than boring Better to be full of character and life!

That's right forgot about the holding breath trick...in fact he did this from a newborn and I was horrified! I've never seen a baby get into such a tizz over a nappy change...he'd hold breath, turn purple and pass out....or vomit as had severe reflux. oh god we have come a long way at least remembering this!!!!

I'm sorry I'm chuckling along here foolishly my DS is only 8mo, but a little boy ran into the shop I work in yesterday and hid behind a scarf stand. His poor DM was outside panicking because she didn't see him come in. I went to tell her where he was and he started throwing all the scarves on the floor and as soon as he realised he'd been found he did the most evil cheekiest laugh, a real mwahahaha and promptly ran past her straight out the door.. The poor woman just sighed and went after him. He was very entertaining for the few minutes he was in the shop but Christ I felt for his DM.

So in conclusion I don't really ever have judgy pants on about spirited children, unless they're being completely ignored. Don't worry too much about what people think because you're doing your best and your DD might make someone's day!