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Original poster

A support thread for all those owned by 'a Destroyer'

26 replies

fastasleep · 09/03/2006 15:48

The amount of times I come on MN ready to screeeeeeeeeeeeeeam about my son The Destroyer just made me start this thread...

So far today I've been tidying (all those who are owned by Destroying Toddlers will now be wetting themselves laughing at that idea) I did the dishes, whilst chatting happily away to Theo to keep him amused, Theo sneaked off, climbed the gate to the 'grown up' room and scattered a pot full of soil all over the floor.

I put a wash in, whilst showing Theo all the colours of the clothes to keep him amused, Theo sneaked off and found my wallet (on a four foot high shelf) and sat quietly behind me ripping up my ten pound notes....

I could go on.. but I'd rather say

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

Please tell me there are more of you out there? I know Spidermama's were destroyers in their younger days.....

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Original poster
fastasleep · 09/03/2006 15:57

It's just me!

OP posts:
mrspink27 · 09/03/2006 16:01

Oh no, you are not alone... I have a destroyer to! comes as a nasty shock to the system bacuase dd1 was so good and was never destructive. on the other hand dd2 can sniff out a crayon at 100 paces and draw on everytning and anything, including books, the wall, the tv screen and the contents of my handbag which she has already strewn all over the floor showering the area with cards, the contents of my make up case and the coins in my purse.

In fact during her 18 month check the HV and I were talking only to look down and find her reillustrating a board book with a purple crayon found under the table Blush.
All this before moving onto the kitchen cupboards to empty out any food item to share with the dog or decorate the floor with.
The next step is to push her high chair to the kitchen worktop, climb up and throw cat biscuits, placed out of the dogs reach, (confetti style) around the kitchen or throw them into the cat's water bowl (all in the name of experiential play!!!) The final port of call is the dog's water bowl which makes a fabulous indoor paddling pool and shower.... and my dh wonders why I am already stressed out by 10am!!! Oh and dont forget the ever exciting phenomenon the wet wipe or tissue box which gives minutes of endless pleasure and hours of grumbling by me!!!!!

meowmix · 09/03/2006 16:02

DS drew me a lovely scribble on the only 100% Irish linen sheets we own with DH's indelible market pen. He pulled up the herbs on the windowsill and he used my only expensive lipstick on the car window.

Original poster
fastasleep · 09/03/2006 16:04

Oh yes, we don't have pets (thank god) but yes, that kind of thing happens daily around here!

Yesterday he found his way to right at the back of a kitchen cupboard as I was changing his little sister, he pulled a huge bag of flour out.... I can't repeat the rest I'll cry!!

OP posts:
Original poster
fastasleep · 09/03/2006 16:05

HE'S BEEN EATING THE SOIL AGAIN GOD HELP ME!

OP posts:
meowmix · 09/03/2006 16:05

DS brought me a bag of couscous. I was in the bath, the packet was open.... and upside down. That stuff goes everywhere. (DH was in a world of his own!)

Original poster
fastasleep · 09/03/2006 16:09

NooOooOoooooo soil and sudocrem

OP posts:
jambuttie · 09/03/2006 16:15

well I have mr destruction in my house if that helps any.

and i mean destruction

Mummy2Toby · 09/03/2006 16:42

Oh - Thank goodness I have seen this thread [relieved emotion] I thought it was just me Smile Today I have had to remove all of my dining room chairs as ds has been up on them onto the table and then onto the window ledge, to walk along it! He has also removed every babywipe from the pack - about 1000 times and whilst I was in the toilet, he managed to pull the safety gate away from the kitchen door and get in there to open the bin and empty the contents!
My mum says I am too soft - I say she should spend a day with my little destroyer Grin AND I am 7 weeks pg - how am I gong to cope with 2?! Please tell me I can't possibly have 2 the same GrinGrin

PeachyClair · 09/03/2006 17:10

I have 2. the middle one is fine but ds3 is at that stage now (you know the one.... grrrrr)
and yesterday DS1 destroyed a bookcase, a chest of drawers, a 12" dalek, a toy train.

Fullmoonfiend · 09/03/2006 19:33

my bf's daughter was extremely 'creative' in her destroying. eg, coming downstairs at 5am and mixing flour, food colouring, squash, tomato ketchup and icing sugar and then - 'decorating' the ALL the worksurfaces with a layer of 'icing' which of course, set. What a joy to come downstairs to at 6am...The good news is she grew out of it. Mostly. And it only took 8 years....Grin

Original poster
fastasleep · 09/03/2006 19:34

Waaaaaaahahahaha fullmoonfiend don't joke Sad

OP posts:
jane313 · 09/03/2006 19:38

We just moved house and my son has probably managed to knock 5 grand off the price already. He removed some wallpaper with a pair of pruning scissors (I had no idea they were there). But I suppose I had never told him not to rip wallpaper off before. He also scribbled biro on other bits. He proudly shows people and tells them that he did this. Luckily we were going to get rid of it anyway, but not quite so soon.

Fullmoonfiend · 09/03/2006 19:43

no but, she's VERY intelligent Fastasleep :)

Fullmoonfiend · 09/03/2006 19:48

PS my younger ds went through a thankfully short-lived stage of ''doing cooking mummy'' which involved getting eggs out of the fridge when my back was turned and dropping them on the floor. (eggs are rather hard to clean up en masse I find)
I put a stairgate on the kitchen door and he lost interest. (Still likes the job of breaking eggs when I'm baking tho. Odd child)

FrayedKnot · 09/03/2006 19:57

I discovered a theory to back this up the other day, it's called

Toddler=mess2

Which mathematically describes the phenomenon whereby as you tidy / clean your house, you are followed by a toddler who creates the square of the amount of mess / dirt that you have just cleaned up, behind your back.

mjp185 · 09/03/2006 20:34

3.5 yr old tiiped full bottle of listerine into his bath last week.
House Still smells like a dentists!!!!Shock

pebblemum · 09/03/2006 21:39

Im sooo glad i have found this thread, I knew there must be others out there like my ds2 but everyone I know seems to have little angels and I started worrying I ws all alone. Sad

My DS2 has been a destroyer since he was about 8 months old, he is now 2.5. As soon as he could walk even just a few steps, nothing was safe. We had a stairgate to keep him in/out of different rooms but he discovered how to undo it, everyone has trouble doing it but not DS2.

In the past few weeks he has emptied a whole bottle of shampoo (not a cheap one either) in the bath, he has opened a pot of double cream and tipped it all over the kitchen floor, he opened a cupboard door in the kitchen so he could use the shelves as steps and then grabbed my newly opened box of daz and tipped it in a pile shouting 'snow snow' and then the other day he woke up before us and decided to wash in his dads favourite aftershave balm. The first we knew of it wsa when we woke up and saw the empty bottle on the bedside table. DS2 had sneaked out of his cot, smothered himself in this stuff after getting it out of a drawer and gently putit on the side again. He smelt of it all day even though we bathed him twice. On pancake day he climbed onto a shelf in the lounge where i had put his pot of sudocream and covered himself from head to toe in it, even his clothes and hair. I still dont know what he used to climb up on!!

He is also another one who can sniff out pens/crayons and loves leaving little bits of artwork around the house, usually in strange places that you dont always see straight away. And he loves money, no matter where i put my purse he always manages to get it, we reckon he can climb walls. A couple of weeks ago I was about to go out when i realised my purse, which had been put back in my bag on the side, was empty. I'd had at least £8 in coins in there and a couple of notes so I was panicking a bit, anyway after a quick search i found the notes but the coins were still missing. After asking DS2 where they were he pointed to a vent in the airing cupboard door. I undid the screws and found my money plus an extra 3.76 in there. The little bugger had obviously been hiding money there for a while!

DS1 was never like this and smetimes i find it hard to cope. I spend all day tidying up, I hoover at least three times and then Dh comes home from work and accuses me of doing nothing all day as the house looks a bit of a mess. I thought he would understand as he was a little shit too when he was younger and used to drive his mum mad, at least I have her sympathies.

Original poster
fastasleep · 10/03/2006 11:10

Wah mine obviously doesn't want to go out to see his friend today, I kept getting dressed and he kept running up to me and pulling my trousers down! Argh! Ended up wearing a dress! (Everything's a bit loose these days so it was easy for the little b...)

Got to run before he destroys our entire house....

pebble I feel your pain!

OP posts:
pebblemum · 10/03/2006 20:53

Apart from complete wrecking the front room twice by getting every single toy he owns out my little destroyer hasn't been too bad today, he has had to get dressed about three times though as everytime i left the room he seemed to strip off Shock. We didnt spend that much time indoors today and while I escaped to the gym for half hour his Aunty took him for a lovely muddy walk through the woods, which allowed him to run riot and get covered from head to toe in dirt so I think that helped to give him something else to focus on other than being a pain in the arse ( a cute one at that though)

Hope tomorrow isnt too bad for you fastasleep, I always find Saturdays one of the worst days as I usually spend the morning shopping and then by the afternoon DS2 has lots of energy he need to burn. Am thinking of buying a treadmill and strapping him to it Grinthat way it will wear him out but he wont be able to destroy the house in the process (if only it was that easy) Cant wait for summer when i can chuck him out in the garden.

Mummy2Toby · 10/03/2006 22:24

Pebbelmum - lol at the treadmill idea Grin I thought exactly the same for ds! We ended up buying him a trampoline for his birthday (just a small one for inside because he is only small) but that didn't work either Sad
Today, I didn't think he had been too bad all in all but thinking about it I have had to remove him from the dining room table about 100 times, I found a DVD posted through to the outside of the front door and he has re-arranged my kitchen cupboards - oh, and I have just found half chewed biscuit and apple in my washing machine Shock

eve2005 · 10/03/2006 22:47

foun dd dangling very expensive body oil in glass bottle over bath

she's 'fed' the cat about 200 times (read upended dry food all over kitchen and tipped over water bowl)

she decided she was finished her dinner but that it looked good on the floor

she upended her bricks and proceeded to throw them at me, dp, cat and tv

she posted dvds in the video player 10 times

she's emptied the kitchen cupboards that aren't childlocked 20 times

she got into the wardrobe after i'd spent half an hour folding all her clothes and pulled everything out

she's 're-organised' my bag

she's chased the cat

she's broken the venetian blinds on the back door (i don't know how, she was only at them for 10 secs before i got to her)

thats just today, and she's just one year old. help Sad

jambuttie · 12/03/2006 10:16

I can no longer cope with mr destructionSad

i am constantly at him not to touch, dont do that etc, he doesnt give a damn.

terrible 2's well keep them i want it all to stop now.

i am so stressed all the time

izzybiz · 12/03/2006 10:44

i have a destroyer too! i was only saying to my SIL yesterday, i need eyes in my a"*e!
she has the biggest toy box in the front room, yet she wants everything but.
now she can open all the doors in the house theres no stopping her!
shes emptied a new pot of sudocreme, wiped it all over herself and the stair carpet, shes drawn pretty much everywhere, put the plug in the sink and turned the tap on, she empties drawers and cupboards, am very sorry but am glad im not aloneBlush shes 21 months now.

pebblemum · 13/03/2006 11:06

Not content with wrecking the front room yesterday, my 'destroyer' also decided to wreck his big brothers room too just after he had finished tidying it. By the time he went to sleep last night i had had enough. The whole day was spent telling him 'No dont do that' or 'pick that up', did he listen?, no!! of course not.

At the moment he is sat gawping at the tv, Dora the Explorer is on so I have got a few minutes peace.