DS is driving me absolutely crazy!

[Farfromtheusual]

DS is almost 1. He's been walking since 9 months. He is into absolutely everything. It's seriously driving me insane.

He literally has to mess with everything. He's not interested in his toys, he would rather play with an empty plastic bottle or my slippers. No matter how many times I tell him no/take whatever it is he's not meant to have off him/move him away, he goes back and does it again and again and again. I don't even have a coffee table anymore because anything that was left on it was just thrown all over the place. I can't even hide stuff from him because he will find it. If he can see something out of his reach and he wants it he will have a massive tantrum.

He's taken to pulling his bed sheet off and pulling bits from the mattress and chewing/playing with them when he's meant to be napping. I've put 2 bed sheets on, same problem. I've put 3 bed sheets on, same problem.

He had a serious accident recently grabbing something he wasn't meant to (before I could stop him) and was hospitalised for almost a week.

I just don't know what to do anymore and I feel my self slowly losing the plot. I'm getting angry and shouty. I know he's still a baby but he does understand, I know he does.

What can I do? Please help! And tell me it gets better

It so reassuring to know it will get better!

That's definitely how I would describe DS Caterina - a whirlwind of destruction!

I have a few friends whose babies are a similar age give or take a few months and they just sit there playing nicely, whilst DS is running round throwing shit (not actual) everywhere! They are all girls though so maybe that's why, I've been told many a time that boys are more "spirited".

Even when we went to see the health visitor recently for his 8-12 month check she was in hysterics because he just kept grabbing everything and throwing it all over the place and I was just so embarrassed.

I was just about to say that he's actually not been too bad for the past few days because I've been trying to distract him with lots of new things to play with but he's literally just emptied his entire ball pit all over the living room floor

Emptying ball pit = exploring, learning, developing

Sounds normal.
They all empty stuff
18 month old dd the same

MessyBun that will be come my new mantra. deep breaths. Exploring. Learning. Developing.

I have a few friends whose babies are a similar age give or take a few months and they just sit there playing nicely, whilst DS is running round throwing shit (not actual) everywhere!

I have the DS who has thrown actual shit! (cat shit, we are currently at war with a neighbourhood cat who keeps shitting in our lawn).

DS (18m) current fascination is the toilet bowl, and putting things in it like the bin. Have found quite a few things in there over the past few weeks.

Our ball pit is currently up the loft for a break.

My dd was like this. She is now the calmest gentlest little girl. Dt's were placid calm babies and are now a total nightmare. You may yet get your reward !!

why wouldn't he empty a ball pit?

WHy do you think he would 'know' that ball pits are meant to be played with in a particular way? For him it's just a pile of stuff to do what he likes with - he is a baby! gosh he is so young it sounds like you have unrealistic expectations - babies don't distinguish between what is a 'toy' and what is not ...just assume they will make a big mess !

I think your expectations are unrealistic to tbh.

2 year old DSwould still empty a ball pit. Then you can try and work on putting the balls back in (never really worked for me, clearly the fun is in tipping them out)

I meant he's not as bad with the random grabbing every single thing in sight and can be distracted more easily, but you have to set your expectations at the right level

I think.youre expecting a bit much of him. Invest in a playpen that he can't climb out if, or properly baby proof your home. Ds1 used to stay in a travel cot while I did stuff. It had ball pit balls in it. He'd throw them all out, every so often I'd go and throw them all in again. He'd throw them out....and repeat. Tedious for me. Entertaining for him. He's 2 now, and doesn't sit still or watch TV, so I've had to find ways to occupy him. His brother is 6 months old and starting to crawl. I'm.getting the travel cot back out!

Where did I say I expect him to know??

Here's what happened to our ballpit.
They then had hours of fun making a giant marble run while i had a sit down and occasionally picked up some balls.
You need to chill out a bit. Your baby is not 5years old. My downstairs is babyproofed with nothing out all cupboards have locks. Appliances switched off, tv in a cabinet so i can relax and get some housework done now and then. 3yo is generally through this stage now but sometimes acts out.

Haha well at least it kept them entertained Silver!

Sounds like you're gonna have your hands full Nottalotta!

He sounds normal to me. A delight. My ds was similar. Walked by 9 months and in to everything.
We baby proofed to a very high standard. No bookshelves in the living room, nothing that could be pulled down, stair gates strategically placed, dangerous chemicals locked away, all lower kitchen cupboards only contained saucepans or plastics.

He wasn't left unsupervised in rooms where he could get hurt but I had the living room where I could leave him if I needed the toilet etc.

He wasn't bothered by toys so he had lots of hands on stuff like messy play eg playdoh, mud and sand in the garden and random bits and pieces (e.g. Kitchen bits etc, boxes etc etc).

I went out every single day to the park or in the garden.

I have to say I loved the toddler days. Yes he was high energy but he was curious and (in my head) very intelligent I took him to signing lessons. As a result he could "talk" so we could interact before he spoke.

Invest in good quality wellies and waterproofs for you both and get out. All the time. Run the legs off him, basically and don't let the weather stop you. At least that way he'll sleep at night!

I remember this stage very well.....and it was 20+ years ago!
My dd was an early walker and into everything.
She would try and empty every drawer and cupboard she could reach. I ended up moving all the dangerous stuff from them to ones she couldn't reach and filled them with safe stuff, like spare sets of keys, unused remote controls (batteries removed), plastic measuring cups etc. Funny as I'm sure she wasn't as interested in emptying them then!
Knocking over stacks of clean laundry was her speciality.
Pulling out as many baby wipes as she could one at a time when I nipped into the kitchen tonget something kept her amused.
One thing that kept her enthralled for ages was trying to fasten the clip on her car seat (that got brought into the house to get transferred into granny's car), or the straps on her buggy. She never actually managed to fasted them but it kept her happy!
Ds was a climber.
It's a tough stage but with kids there is never a perfectly tidy house. Maybe you need to accept the mess......he'll grow out of it.