Yeah it’s a big struggle at this age. My son only goes to nursery two days a week but he seems to catch a cold most weeks. I then spend the days in between seemingly getting him well enough to go back next week, often having caught his cold too so I’m unwell when he’s in nursery!
Remember two year olds can’t blow their little noses, so a streaming cold is a miserable experience. We use those little saline puffer sprays to help clear his nose, and I own a good quality cold air humidifier for night time coughs. I don’t bother with GPs or HVs as they just tell you to go away again.
I would not DREAM of taking mine to a nice restaurant, nor even a cafe. We tried it once last summer and I think he sat for about four minutes. Then he wanted to explore. My older DD was totally different, she would sit and crayon, read books, do a puzzle. But DS is an adventure seeker. I do think of it like that - I give it a nicer label in my head, and it makes it seem easier. He is now 2 and 9 months and we have, bravely, a attempted one of those all-you-can-eat buffets, and predictably he did like enjoy getting up every five minutes to get another little plate of food, and seeing all the food he can choose from. My DD would have hated it at that age as she doesn’t like trying new food even now age 10.
We have become big fans of picnics and street food, so we can still go out and enjoy ourselves with our 2 y.o. I’ve also invested in a mini Thermos so I can take pasta and sauce, an apple and some juice and then we can eat whatever (he won’t eat bread so can’t make him sandwiches).
I always say to my more impatient DH that we have to make allowances. When he’s had a cold, which sometimes has been 3 weeks out of 4 this year, he is usually very irritable for 24 to 48 hours after, presumably due to tiredness. I’m luckier than most as he sleeps until 6.15 usually, but for some reason young kids do wake early. As I’m an older mum, I opted to be a sahm this time around, so I do all the nights, all the early starts. I’ve been useless at sleep training so he still wakes two or three or four times especially when he is poorly. It’s brutal, physically and mentally. I was prepared better this time. Braced for the years of exhaustion. It is hard if you are working as well as dealing with a toddler when you get home ( I did that with dd1) but you do get time away from them, but then when you get home they are so clingy. In short I don’t think there is a simple solution to your problem; however you play it, age 18 months to about 3.5 is hard.
You definitely need to embrace early nights. Get your kid out in fresh air running around parks and biking or whatever, whenever they are well enough as it will help with their sleep and temper.
Oh and one last tip for the whingeing which i saw on YouRube no seriously helped my family! When Ds gets stuck in a cycle of crying about nothing (wrong colour pjs, pea fell onto his potato, can’t go to park in his Tshirt as it’s pelting down with rain, can’t watch Peppa pig for an entire hour, etc) than I first try the usual stuff (acknowledge his upset, soothe him, distract him etc) then if nothing helps rather than snap at him, I interrupt him loudly and say happily, “oh DS, you’ve cried enough now it’s MY turn” and then I screw my face up and fake sob. Then I brighten up, smile and turn to DD or DH if they are there be say, “that’s better. Your turn DH/DD” who will gamely play along too. Then I say to them “ ok enough, now YOUR turn again DS” and, quite literally, by this stage my ds has ALWAYS stopped crying and doesn’t cry again. He is fascinated when WE cry and it shuts him up completely, because obviously he is not really upset about the PJs/rain/TV/whatever, it is just emotional overflow that he can’t handle not getting his own way yet.