18 month old 'spirited' 'livewire'

[VenusWineTrap]

I'm hoping someone can come and reassure me I am describing normal behaviour!

DD is 18 month old and has always been highly active and into everything, but just lately it's increasingly difficult to get out and about without worrying what she will do next!

She has an obsession with water, especially taps, and will hunt them out no matter where we go - soft play, toddler groups, and ends up soaking wet. Same at home, she'll hunt out the cats bowls, empty water out, splosh it around the floor then clap her hands 'aren't I clever'! I seem to spend a huge part of a toddler session herding her out of the bathroom.

She plays with things to extremes - where most children play tentatively with sand, emptying & filling containers, she will grab fistfuls and either throw it or eat it. Paint - I don't know where to start but almost always results in her needing a bath, her favourite trick is to literally paint her face with the brush.

I don't want to knock the enthusiasm out of her but people describe her as a livewire, or spirited and I'm worrying she is getting a reputation at toddler group as being 'that naughty one' at just 18 months. It's almost like she behaves like a caged animal let out in the loose for an hour, which of course she isn't!

I am disciplining her as best I can, I'm really trying hard not to say 'no' all the time, (although if there is a danger to herself or another child of course I do) I distract her with other things, she's my third child and the other two were never anything like this. Why, in a room full of toys does she hunt out the things she isn't allowed?

Hi there! In a slightly similar position myself with the added hazard of having a 4 month-old to feed! Did you see my post in this section entitled something like '18 month-old bored already'? Have a look as I thought the responses were really helpful.
Some of the key ideas were: having 3 or 4 rotating toy boxes so that she'll only have one box out at a time per week (others stored in a cupboard to keep novelty value) and put only a handful of toys in there to focus her attention. I thought it was interesting that 'in a roomful of toys she won't play with anything'. It's almost like there's too much choice so she doesn't choose any of it but - I can imagine - tries to escape or climb out the window instead!
Another person mentioned a tent and tunnel
And another idea I really liked was that of getting together a special treasure basket with little things. That link was here www.earlyyearsplanning.co.uk/treasure-baskets/treasure-basket-colour-and-light.htm but you could obviously make up your own one.
Finally, we have a playpen and I have a few things in there which I change around including a couple of books with noisy buttons etc (I'm sure you've got some of them). It's a godsend when I need to clear my head get something done and don't always want to have to do everything during nap time.

Hi Venus my Dt's are exactly the same (they are 22 months.) Dont worry this is normal behaviour. She is just learning in her own way.
The painting her face bit made me laugh

Do you do much water play at home ? It might help if she has a set play time with water, Otherwise I would just carry on doing what your doing and just let her do her thing. She sounds like good fun x x

Perfectly normal

Thankyou all, we don't do water play as such unless we're outside but her favourite activity at the moment is where I run a washing up bowl of soapy water (loads of washing up liquid) then scoop off the bubbles into a large bowl where she can splatter them all over the kitchen floor -she loves that! Cravingsunshine, I've just read that thread and can identify with so much of it, hats off to you coping with a 4 month old too!

To be fair she is really good fun, just very mischievous, I'll try and keep smiling as I remove yet another crayon from her mouth...

I think you're interpreting your toddler's mind with your adult one and forgetting that she isn't really being naughty or even mischievous, she is just being a toddler and experimenting with new and exciting (to a toddler) things. They all do it, but some do it at an earlier age than others or more obviously or more messily/noisily than others. I wouldn't worry about it. They are all different and what she is doing is helping her to understand the world - as long as it's safe, let her carry on doing it..

haha cravingsunshine we must stop meeting like this.
My son is also the naughty one at playgroup. There's no malice in him, he's just into throwing things, and doesn't see the difference between throwing balls or jigsaw pieces or playdough. It's such a steep, steep learning curve sometimes

madmomma how are you getting on with this silly age gap business??! DD2 is now 4 months and I feel we have turned the corner a little but the bedtime is pretty hard-going alone, isn't it? Luckily for me DH usually gets back at 6.30 but not tonight and I am about to collapse!

venus Everything you have described, my DS2 does and more! I think the behaviour that bothers me most is eating anything off the floor. Sometimes I just can't get what it is out of his mouth I found him eating a slug once and when I screamed he laughed!

I try and see the funny side to his innate ability to cause chaos wherever he goes. I read the title of a book recently that said 'how to tame a strong-willed child without breaking their spirit'. FWIW I think that's the balance that I try to maintain, (sometimes rocking, alone, in a dark corner helps too).

I think a bit of taming and understanding is all they need to rein themselves in a bit and I don't about you but I have to be patient, very patient and I'm knackered by the end of the day!