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Behaviour/development

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is it normal my 13mo still can't (won't!) play by himself for more than 2-3 mins??

2 replies

BotBotticelli · 30/12/2013 07:53

Just that really...he drives me bonkers in the house, follows me round clawing at my legs and whining unless i am sat on the floor playing cars/tractors/pushing a ball back and forth etc etc. We have got him loads of toys, and tried all sorts of non-toy ideas (banging pots and pans, shakers made of old bottles etc etc) but it's all the same: he is happy looking at it for 2-3 mins max and then leaves it and the whining starts again unless I am down there banging them with him!

He doesn't want cuddles or to be carried around as I work...as soon as I pick him up he pushes me in the throat as a sign he wants to get down. He just wants me to play with him.

It drives me mad, the house is a state, it's very difficult to get even the basics of cleaning done, and the time we spend in the house draaaaaags out. I find myself waiting for his nap. (We go out twice every day for this very reason, but its the 3 hours between 6am and 9am when he has his first nap which are currently killing me!).

I have tried to do everything else with him in a baby-led way (ie weaning, following his cues for sleep) not that I have had much of a choice as he is a very willful spirited little boy! so should I just persevere with this and hope that by doing lots o playing with him now, he will somehow learn to be more self sufficient as he grows older??

I am starting to worry that I am somehow spoiling him and that he will never learn to play by himself and I am getting it all wrong :(

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Knit2togtbl · 30/12/2013 08:05

It's normal but some of it is down to character . Ds1 was happy to play alone but ds 2 has never done it and always preferred company . He would rather help with housework than play on his own.

atthestrokeoftwelve · 30/12/2013 08:05

Will he sit in a high chair while you wash up or prepare food? He could be "helping" with a few carrots or plasticware while you do the same. Or a little swing attached to the inside of a door frame?

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