Dear Lord, I have a climber....

[SarahJinx]

....a glorious 15 month old Tasmanian devil of a climber. He's into everything at a million miles an hour. he's running about the bath trying to climb out, climbing on the tv stand/coffee table/sofas etc, I walk onto the living room and fund him happily sitting in his high chair....its exhausting, I'm so worried he's going to hurt himself (floors are wooden or tiled)and he's already all bruised. He throws things, whacks me/the wall/the telly with whatever he can find whilst laughing manically. So, he's fabulous but crazy, and crazy hard work. How do I keep him safe and make him understand no! When I say no he runs about gleefully screeching 'nonononono!!'.....please!

Ten?!

DH says the same Sarah - "he'll learn" -will he? Will he? Or will he really, REALLY hurt himself?

SEE!! See, I say the same!

Seriously, mine flings himself around like a mad thing, he's had two nosebleeds already (one from his v first fall off the sofa.....) and I examine that little button nose daily for a crack in it....

I really do.

This is going to be me before long. DS2 is into everything and I've never known such a stubborn, headstrong child. He's not walking yet but is like lightening crawling up stairs, out the front door, under furniture to get to stuff. Last week while I was trying to sort out DS1 he managed to get himself out of his pram (not strapped in, had literally put him down seconds before) onto the floor and halfway to the open door of a busy cafe without making a sound but that's be ause he doesn't say anything which I'm pretending not to worry about.

This is all in huge contrast to DS1 who bumshuffled eventually at 11 months, didn't walk till 16 months and couldn't get up the stairs until he was almost 2.

both my DS's were the same. They had calmed down by 2.5ish although DS2 has just learned how to climb out of his cot. He is 2.5. The joy!

I had one of those - still have, and he's 6 now... He was infamous as the only child to try and climb out of a window at Toddlers, and for riding a ride-on toy down the slide! (in my defense, I was chasing after his DTB at the time)
I agree with wearing him out - parks, playgrounds, chasing bubbles in the garden - whatever you can, really.
(If I've just outed myself, please let me know )

and at the beach this weekend he was climbing up a 20ft sheer wall after his brother. Mind you DH did encourage him and helped him to the top..........

Oh, the little button nose...

Sorry, not helpful!

Bella - mine also crawled out of the coffee shop today in the time it took me to turn to the waiter & say thanks for clearing a table. Voom. Gone.

It is frightening though. Dd was so easy compared to ds. Ds can actually fit a key in a door and unlock it. Even dd cant do this and she's nearly 5. It worries me that one day I will be preoccupied and forget to hide the keys. We live on a busy main road.

DD2 was thus. At 18 months she did a, 'Look no hands,' on the top of the climbing frame. She also climbed up bookcases as though they were ladders with me underneath, holding it up while the books fell out around me. Balancing on the top of radiators, up on work tops, tables, window sills...

She was always sure-footed and became very good at sport. Take comfort, perhaps your DDs and DSs will be too!

10

I do have to agree with 'they'll learn' then dd finds something else to climb and jump off.

DD had also tried to get out of the window, had to move the sofa's around in the living room. She has also manage to unlock the front door, so keys are now hiden

Yeah mine is getting that way too. I see him grab a key and poke it about in the door, he knows the theory for sure and if he could just make his squashy little sausage fingers work we'd really be in trouble - we live opposite a river....

I just worry he'll hurt himself, it terrifies me that when he's in bed, he'll stand, shriek and then throw himself backwards as fast and hard as he can and laugh his head off, he's still a baby.

He's not even close to terrible two.

My friends DS1 once climbed to the very top of a large pit of hell soft play area. She was trying to sort out her DS2, told him to show her how he could climb to the top. He did. On the OUTSIDE of the netting. She was completely mortified.

I don't recall how they got him down - I may have to ask her.

Yes, I've got one of those. He's 2.10 now, but thing have improved in the past couple of months, he still climbs everything, but now if he can't get down himself, he stay put and shouts 'help Mummy!', so I can go and rescue him. So I'm currently just trying to relax and enjoy that I have a strong, adventurous DS. He's actually a pretty talented climber....

Riding a ride-on toy down the slide! :o

And

DS (21mo)'s climbing gets worse if he is bored and hasn't had the chance to run it all of in the garden/park. I'm 11 weeks pregnant and working long hours atm and when I got home mid afternoon today I was just too tired to take him out. So I spent several hours removing him from stairs/furniture instead.

Oh, and everyone out there who thinks they will escape this because their DC is a late crawler/walker/whatever - DS didn't crawl till 12mo or walk till 16mo and yet he is now an actual ninja. A NINJA I say!

I have 2 of them too - 3 and 18months, it's NOT getting easier as they get older. My 3yr old just does bigger/more extravagant moves. However, my 4yr old isn't a climber and had 2 trips to A&E for cuts to his head at 15months.
We have a slide and trampoline in the lounge, DH is planning a climbing wall with crash mats and netting in the garden. No joke.
I spend my life telling my 3yr old to slow down, explaining that he just bashed his head because he was climbing...again, trying to get him to process the link between what he's doing and the pain from the bumps, but he just can't slow down. If he's not within arms reach then it's not long before he hurts himself or one of his brothers.

If he's kept busy and engaged then he's fine, if I try to do housework he hurts himself!

DD has broken her cot banging against it, dreading trying to get her into a bed and getting her to stay in her room!

DD also likes to bang her head against the doors, then laughs like its the best thing ever I swear there was a mix up at the hospital

Oh god, i thought his obsession with keys was sweet. I hadn't considered the ramifications!

Lets all repeat - it means they will be sporty, it means they are bright etc!!

I can't take him anywhere either, at my sils this weekend he pulled all the heads off her geranium pots, ate grass and generally ran around her totally safe garden falling about, climbing up the slide, shrieking at the top of his voice until I gave up, put him in his car seat and took him for a ten minute bad stressed mum drive around the village.....

at ninja

Ninja! Ha!!

I have two climbers too. Always covered in bruises. 15 month old dd could climb both up the ladders and up the slide itself at 11 months. She now climbs to the top and runs down. Scares the shut out of me. Happily climbs onto the dining room table and starts attempting to jump! My childminder has nicknamed her suicidal baby yorkstar. Ds 3 was/is still the same except bow more elaborate in his climbing attempts. Will slide down banister on stairs and have caught him many times attempting to climb through windows (unfortunately he can now undo looks too). No advice just sympathy. You need eyes in the back of your head!

Is anyone else's dc really independant and likes to have tamtrums?

OP - I know exactly what you mean!

DS3 (16m)is exactly the same - he can open the stairgate at nursery (not yet at home but not due to lack of trying) he climbs up the ladder to the slide and hangs off the handles at the top, giggling like mad, before hurling himself down it. He looks at deep concrete steps for a second and then just tries to walk down them (thank you, lady with very quick reflexes who caught his head before it hit the ground the other day) and just will NOT sit still. He opens the dishwasher, stands on the door and then tries to climb onto the worktop. He opens the oven door although today did it when it was on and now has a lovely burn so maybe he might not do that again for a while.

He climbs onto beds and tries to walk on them and of course falls off, he has tried on many occasions to fall out of the window - we have sash windows and never open the bottom parts but still can't leave him in a room with an open window.

He tries to climb up the bunk bed ladder but luckily his legs are still too short for now. He tries to climb fences - any fence, he isn't fussy - but does prefer those with deep water or steep drops on the other side. He learnt to walk at 14 months and to run at 14 months and a couple of days - and hasn't stopped since! If you call him back he chuckles and runs even faster! I wish I had half of his energy.

Part of me does want to say 'let him get on with it, he'll learn' but then I'm not sure falling from a high window onto a pavement or cracking your head open on steps is something you get a second chance from....Good job he isn't my pfb as well else I would be a nervous wreck!!

It's exhausting, isn't it?

Yup. Mr Stubborn.