Am I the only person on Mumsnet who actually loves toddlers?!

[Karathraceandherspecialdestiny]

I know people are more likely to post when they are unhappy than to say they are happy (can sound horribly smug) but there are so few positive threads about the 18 months to 3 year age group.

My dd is 23 months and she is fantastic to be around. Very affectionate, playful and demanding - I love reading her books, helping her enact role-play with her bears, doing silly things to make her laugh, taking her to the park etc. I don't find that in the 2 days a week i have with her on my own that I need to always have a playdate or an activity scheduled.

Yes she has the odd tantrum and I get bored reading the same favourite book 20 times a day but generally she is so much fun - 'living for the moment' as Dr Green says, so cheeky yet so innocent. And now she is talking it's even better.

Yet most of my friends seem to have found the baby stage easier. But you can communicate (if not reason) with a toddler much more easily, and that gives you a whole new relationship with your child. What's not to like (especially if you still have just the one to look after)?

Mine will stop dead to look at ants or spiders mind you, he's nearer to the ground than me so he can see them better. He's also obsessed with his big brother's choice of viewing "ooby ooby doo mummy!"

I love my dd she is 3 years old...Toddlers are fun and really chalenging and i love it.....

I absolutely love my ds (2.4). I also have an 8mo baby - and I definitely prefer ds's company (though my dd is the most cuddly baby ever). He has his moments, but he's mostly an angel.

I also adore his little friends. They're hilariously anarchic. I think it's all about how you handle them.

Ahhh, the singing, yes. DS is 2.6 and does enjoy a sing song - quite often just 'happy birthday to you' over and over again

Yesterday I was trying to teach him 'this little piggy..' and he now has it as;

'This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed at home, this little piggy said "MORNING!!", this little piggy got one' (??)

Quite often I'm just looking at him wondering where on earth it all comes from

Well, Lapin and ceebee, DS is 2.9 and still asks for a cuddle down the stairs

I let him get away with it because I remind myself that it won't be long before he will hate to be seen with me. He's lovely [smug]

I adore my toddler- she's just so much fun! Now she's speaking too, its hilarious the stuff they come out with. Their view on the world is so different to ours, and it's so nice to be reminded that the simplest things can be the most pleasurable.

I did enjoy my first two toddlers. Especially dd1 who was very easy and never tantrummed. But by dd3, who'd been an easy baby but a difficult 3yo, I had got used to the pleasures of 4-7 year olds. Who are lovely. And cute and affectionate. So by my 3rd the novelty and pleasure of toddlers was wearing thin.

I do really like 4-8 year olds. Especially, they are continent. which has to be good. And they sleep well. And eat better than toddlers. And tantrum less. yet they are still innocent and think I'm totally wonderful .

Sorry, I intended to post in favour of toddlers but somehow came out against them

wrong post for wrong thread...

I think that 1-3yo is a very cute stage. I love my 3yo, he is gorgeous and funny and all the rest, but my, he is ingtense and I find it all hard work at times. Maybe it doesn't come naturally to me but I think that some toddlers are more demanding than others, and it's not for lack of trying to be positive that I feel worn down sometimes by the constant contrariness and wobbly-throwing

They are lovely...i'm just not so keen on the very very fast..suddenly decide to make a run for it ones.

intense

My DS1 is 2.3, and is generally totally adorable (apart from when he is shoving other children, which is a tiresoem phase we have been mired in for a while...)

He does special, condensed versions of songs - Bob the Builder goes "Bob Builder, Fix It Can!" Gets all the essential elements in, I think.
And his favourite place in the world is still mummy's lap with a story, which I know won't last, so am making the most of it.

Cannot understand people who prefer babies - DS2 is 0.3 and is a scrumptious, plumptious bundle of gorgeousness, and a far easier baby than DS1, who was a shocker, but still not nearly as interesting. Am v excited to think of them being 2 little brothers tumbling around together when DS2 is older - sweet!

I adored my daughter as a toddler.

Now she is 3.6, and a real little schoolgirl (has been at pre-school for 8 months) she is growing up fast and I do have pangs of nostalgia for another, cosier, age . But she is a very dear little girl all the same

Thanks so much for this thread, it has made me think about all the gorgeous things ds1 (2) does and says, and how truly scrumptious he is

his excitement at spotting a spider the other day (and arachnophobe me trying to be interested from the other side of the room!).
the look on his face when i understand what he's trying to tell me or sing to me.
how kind he was giving ds2 (4mo) his toy back when he dropped it the other day
etc etc ad nauseam (sp?) i know....

but too often i get caught up in the daily drudgery and find myself wishing the day away till bedtime

and reminders that they won't always want to be cuddled by mummy are so helpful - i thought of it going upstairs tonight and carried him up giving him kisses
and who cares that he wanted to take his firefighting kit to bed?

so thank you

ps all those cynics out there can keep their 'vom' comments to themselves

my dd is 15 months and so cute and shes so obsessed with in the night gardens upsy daisy and points to her and waves her arms shes so damn cute as welll but hard work but when she amiles and goves me cuddles i forget how hard work she is

I love sleeping toddlers.... does that count?

lol flame!

I adore my 2.4mo, he is just the funniest thing.
But I am not very keen on other peoples.

2.4 YEAR old!

No-I love them to, even though posted another friend asking for tantruming advice.

Enjoy this age much more than small baby age.

Babies are super cuddly and all that, but TOO MUCH HARD WORK by half!

My dd is 2.2, and toddlerdom is fab. Everyone convinced me that she was going to become an evil, screaming hell child as soon as she hit two, but she is a fecking delight.

Always wanting to play "come on mummy, come on you turn, you turn, want to play?"
Affectionate "awwww mummy, want a hug? hugs awww..."
And inquisitive "look mummy a tiny little spider! Hello spider, whatya doin? Want a hug?" makes vague hugging motion towards spider

I adore them, which is just as well as I have two of the damn things. Actually, dd's just turned three so perhaps she's past toddlerhood. Two year olds are just so damn cute

Dislike babies - too much work - love them once they get to 18 mths.

The secret of your success is that....

you have her on your own for (only) two days.

I would love my tod more, if I didn´t have to be with him 7 days a week

The problem is not the tod for me, it is being a SAHM that sometimes drives my bonkers and makes me feel I need to get back into the "real" world (whatever that means. Adult converstion I suppose).

Being alone with her for 2 days a week (instead of full time)means you have a sense of perspective.