Typical day with a toddler...........what do you get up to, especially in the afternoon

[Melly]

Hi everyone, am looking for advice and tips on how to keep 16 month old happy and stimulated. I work 2 days per week, dd goes to childminder (my auntie) and has lots of contact with other children and also goes to a playgroup on one of the mornings, so no worries on those days. The days we are at home go a bit like this

7.45/8 am - dd has milk, then happily plays until breakfast.

8.15 ish - breakfast.

8.30 will amuse herself toddling around playing with toys etc.

9 am ish - get dd washed and dressed then myself.
then either dd happily follows me around whilst I do a bit of housework or we might pop to supermarket/shops.

11.30/11.45 dd has lunch followed by short play.

12.15 ish - dd has sleep, usually about 2 hours or maybe a bit longer.

2.15/2.30 dd awake. Usually rack my brains on what to do pm.......

More often than not dd gets quite whingey in the afternoon unless we go out in the car, then she is fine. I find myself counting down until 5 pm when it's tea-time. I suppose this is probably quite common but I wondered what others do to fill the afternoons especially if the weather is foul or you don't feel like going out. We live in a rural area and the one thing I hate about it is not being able to just go out for a little walk - nearest pavements and shops are 5 miles away so it means using the car every time. Sometimes I get so desperate to keep her amused I just drive to the supermarket and buy a few things just to kill an hour or so. There are playgroups in my area but they are all in the morning - very little activites for pm.

DD has got to that stage now where she seems to have outgrown alot of her toys and I feel that she needs some new things to grab her attention....any recommendations?

Any advice welcome as these "hard going" afternoons are starting to get me down, probably not helped by the fact that I'm 19 weeks pregnant and feel at my worst mid afternoon!

Aloha DS gradually got into drawing from about the age of your DS onwards. At first it was only dots on the page (ie stabbing) but we've progressed to scribbling. He is greatly encouraged in this by nursery. At 21 months he has just been getting into cooking for the last couple of months. We've had the pastry episode, we've made rice krispie buns (v simple)and then we went to the other extreme on Sunday and made the Christmas cake together. I stood him on a kitchen chair (not sure what others do here) and we both enjoyed it. He was however a bit put out that I wouldn't cook the cake in the microwave though....

Have you tried slime? Take about 3 or 4 good handfuls of cornflour and add enough water (it won't be much) so that the mixture is runny but still feels dry to the touch. Add food colouring if you want and tip the lot onto her highchair tray and let her loose with it!

Oh god Melly, I could have written this. My husband wonders why we go shopping every day, ds even says to me (23 months) Waitrose today Mummy? Anyway, I got around it by telling my girlfriends how awful it was getting, so I came up with a plan, I have two close friends in the village where I live who have 5 children between them, and as often as we can, some of the children come over and 'help' me and stay and have tea with us, and the mums pop along at tea time too (needless to say providing there is no ballet, horse riding, football etc, then Mr Beefeater comes out to play too and it always turns into a bit of a social).

I am very lucky that we can all do this, and its reciprocated at The Weekends with long Sunday lunches at their houses. I realise that you live in a rural area - any mums in the nearest village?
I find that I invite people back from all the things we do in the mornings, have lunch together and put ds to bed and offer them a travel cot if they need to nap their children. They probably all avoid me thinking oh god we HAVE to go back to hers!.

My husband thinks our house has turned into a creche/drop in centre but it works so ...

Thanks again for the great replies. It makes me feel better just knowing that I am not alone. As it happened, yesterday dd was good as gold all afternoon, didn't whinge once and we all went to bed in a good mood! I have my list down as a host for NCT based coffee mornings/afternoons - out of about 9 sessions I have hosted only one has been attended which is a shame. I really think sometimes that people can't be bothered to drive out to where I am and I know some of my friends who live in Plymouth feel this way. Oh well, perhaps I should be more persistent and outgoing and try to make some friends closer to home.
Thanks again for all the replies.

Buy a good waterproof all-in-one and a pair of wellies and let her tumble about in the garden, whatever the weather.

Can you 'toddler swap'? We have an arrangement with another mum in the village where we have each others toddlers every Wednesday afternoon for a couple of hours.

Drive to a cafe and have coffee and cake, very civilised and this was dd1's favourite thing to do at 18 months.

Yes Enid my DS loves this too. He inevitably ends up finding a grandma-type to flirt with over my shoulder - so we are brightening up someone else's day too.....

I thought it was just me that got stir crazy. I have to have an aim for the day even if it is a walk to the postbox or newsagent. Going to the shops a lot becomes expensive. DD loves making cakes, painting, water play & making play dough.

Oooh yes, and if your dd is walking, a short trip to the shops can kill a good hour - mainly with her slow, distracted walking but also with the number of people you meet (old dears especially) who stop to have a chat with your dd. Make the most of their charm now, as by the time she is 2 she will be the equivalent of a grumpy Kevin!

I do find the supermarket difficult with DS, he insists on dragging a basket around with him and putting things in it and if strapped into buggy/trolley tries to squirm out. Probably it is too interesting a place for him as he 'shops' and then wants to put everything on the conveyer thing. The stress is too much for me, so we rarely eat. can't imagine why I'm fat.

Corner shops are better, especially for mouldy icecream that mummys end up eating for sustenance.

Mine and ds's two favourite afternoon activities when I was pg with dd and ds was between 18mths and 2 yrs were swimming, and taking the Park and Ride bus (cheap!) into town to have coffee and cake (me) and an ice cream (ds) in a cafe. Other than that we spent a lot of time in waterproofs down at the duckpond or local park.

Put the baby bath on the floor of the kitchen, put a cm or two of water in, then fold paper boats and have races. If you're feeling adventurous, you can blow them along using straws. Or just have lots of splashing fun, or have bubbles or whatever. When finished, mop floor. Clean floor and happy child. Works for me.

My mum used to put a blanket over a small table to make a fort. Many a happy hour was whiled away giving tea to teddies in our secret place.

Any thoughts for a slightly younger (12 months) preverbal, prewalking baby? ds seems to just explore stuff in a non-specific way - pulling things out of cupboards, shaking them, stacking cups, putting things on top of things, playing 'chase' etc etc. Not sure he would understand what a tent/pretend house was?? Perhaps I am underestimating him - should I be doing more imaginative play with him?

Elliot, this is very specific play for a child of his age. Sorting and stacking are important developmentally - a sort of baby scientist at work - and you should just give him stuff and let him play with it. At that age, I don't think they can grasp imaginative play in the sense of making forts and tents etc, but chasing is imaginative in a way. Reading to babies is very important IMO. Also just letting them dabble about in water. My ds loves to let the tap water run over his hands for ages! My ds likes all forms of banging things together, going through my makeup bag (a surefire favourite!) and listening to music.

Elliott sit him on the floor and blow bubbles at him. Take him swimming. And beware the stacking will become probably become more intense. The main improvement as my DS has got older (he is now 21 months) is that he will tidy the kitchen cupboards back up when requested. And he knows where everything goes...

Currently a favourite is going around with the swiffer with only two rods on (ie half length).

Unlike practically everyone else here, dd and I just go out a lot! We live in very rural area too but back roads are quiet enough for good long buggy walk to see horses, sheep etc (dh has perfected reading a book balanced on buggy handles whilst doing this.)... we have a lot of coats/woolly trousers etc.

But we also drive out a lot - I have used this excuse to start supporting local farm shops, independent butchers etc which makes me feel good. Then there's the rabbits and hamsters in Focus DIY, the local shopping mall (although I do buy too much), local craft centres, National Trust houses (life membership has come in very handy but unfortunately mostly shut now), local museums and galleries (we had 'plane' a lot last weekend at the RAF museum, not my usual interest but I did enjoy it), lots of farm visits, just wandering around interesting local villages/towns basically we'll go anywhere free or cheap with cheap or free parking and I certainly know my area much better than I used to.

Oh and antiques fairs & auctions.

TBH PhilipaT we are like that really. Most days we go out at least twice. Visit family, shopping mall, garden centre, DIY store, Mums and Tots, baths, shopping outlet, mill shop, stately home grounds, park, swimming baths, soft play centre etc. DS is quite keen to get out and will go stand by the front door in his pjs as a hint to me. I think it is good for him to get out and about with me because he's fairly much indoors and activity bound on the 3 days he's at nursery.

What did you all do with your DD/DS's when they were about 8 months old??

My DD is a real live-wire, mornings are really full with playgroups / naps / food etc.. But come about 2.30pm when she is awake until bedtime she needs serious entertaining.

I do take her to see friends with babies a similar age but most have gone back to work now so I am a bit restricted on that front.

Is 8 months too young to start some of these activities?? I just feel like I need more up my sleeve for a rainy day.

Swimming at 8 months is fine - I took ds from 6 months, and he loved it, and what's more, slept like a dream afterwards!

I started looking for a job when ds was 8 mo. old as i was tired of trying to entertain him.