Do you think this is too much for 2 year old?

[Willowrose63]

Looking for some opinions! Sorry its a bit long!
Here's what a typical week might look like for us, wondering if it's a bit much for my daughter or if she's being a typical 2 year old. She has been having some big meltdowns when we are out and about. Particularly when we need to leave a place(eg soft play or swimming). The commute time to everything is 10 mins max.

I do shifts mostly nights but different every week.
Husband works mon to fri 0830-1730 from home. We live in a small flat with no garden on a main road(what were we thinking!) So have to actually go somewhere for her to get time outside. She loves being outside and being active and seems to get frustrated with too much time in the flat.

Monday- nothing scheduled but usually goes swimming with me(mum) or library plus errands and a bit of chilling out at home/ potter in local park

Tuesday- gymnastics (I also stay) 1 hour. Its by the beach so we usually faff about on the beach for an hour or so after.

Wed- nursery 0830-1600

Thurs- church playgroup 2 hours(with me or her dad). Play at home in the afternoon.

Friday- nursery 0830-1600

Saturday- weather dependent go to woods/beach/swimming or meet friends. And maybe see husbands parents

Sunday- sometimes church where she goes to kiddies thing for 1hr (we don't stay with her). Then afternoon we might do something.

Sounds lovely. Is she hungry or tired when the meltdowns happen? Or is it just the transitions she is struggling with? Both are common.

It doesn't sound like too much. It sound like your child does not like the transition between one activity to another. Children are very much "in the moment". They do not understand time. To them it can feel arbitrary when a gun activity ends. To help with the transition, you could make sure you always cue her into an activity coming to an end. For example, you can say " in 5 minutes playgroup will finish and I will ask you to put on your coat. If there is anything else you want to play with before you leave, you only have 5 more minutes". You can even do another warning one minute before the transition.

Another way of helping her understand time, is to make a visual timetable of the week, with photos of each of her activities, so she can see that they follow a predictable order. If there is going to be a change in the routine, for example, Nana will be visiting, you could put a picture of Nana in the right place in the sequence. You could go through the days activities on the timetable each morning, reminding her that each activity will come to an end, but she will do it all again next week.

We try to time it so that she isn't hungry ie bring a pack lunch. Tiredness is definitely a possibility! She seems to be trying to give up napping so doesn't always have one now, she does sleep very well at night.
She does seem to struggle with transitions. Tbh she is a delight but I dread leaving the house/getting in the car/ getting from the car to the flat/going to shops. Eg. Today I had to physically remove her from the soft play, I could not get her socks and shoes on and she was sprinting around and trying to run outside.
Struggled to get her coat on but ended up carrying her, she was struggling and screaming the whole way to the car. I explained to her that I needed to carry her because her shoes were off and let her feel the ground was wet and cold.
This scenario is pretty common, especially with the removing of shoes and socks. Have taken her to get her feet remeasured and tried offering alternatives.
Do you have any wisdom/tips on making transitions easier?

@BrokenLink that makes a lot of sense. I really like the idea of the visual plan for the week! That's brilliant

This sounds similar to what we like to do with our 2.5 year old, we just like to get out and do as much as we can. I terms of the meltdown, it does sound pretty normal for that age. I recommend checking out biglittlefeelings on insta, they have some useful tips on how to deal with it.

@BrokenLink I was going to suggest this too! Helped us so much. We even had a little keyring we laminated with photos of our car, house, nursery, beach, granny etc for out and about.