What do you do with your crawler/toddler when you take a shower?

[blondissimo]

Or get stuff done round the house?
I strap mine in his old rear facing car seat at the door of the bathroom so he can see me. But he is going to get too big for that soon so just wondering what other mums do!!
I know my sister waits until her ds is asleep to get in the shower, but that would be about 12.30pm for me!

I used to have a bath & bring him in the bath with me. He sat up and splashed me while I washed (I was kneeling in the water doing using a plastic jug for hair washing and rinsing.)

He was walking at 8 mos and could tip a car seat over with no problem (very, very strong!), so there was no way that would have worked for us. Of course there was always the risk of him pooing in the bath...

baby proof bathroom.

lock door.

have shower while watching baby/toddler play.

housework is easy... i try not to do much

I used to leave ds in his bouncey chair in the bathroom with me and chat away to him, but that didn't last long as he was walking at 10 months. I made sure as far as i could that the immediate area was safe (stairgate closed, plugs covered, nothing he could easily grab) and then when he wasn't too mobile I'd sit him in the bathroom with a pile of toys, but he'd usually crawl off, so my showers were quick usually! Now he's 21 months I still take record fast showers and he wanders around playing with his toys (his bedroom's next to the bathroom) and generally causing mayhem. His latest trick is to come and show me the car keys and then drop them in the shower (not good as it's an electronic key fob!) or throw my clothes that I've stupidly left on the bathroom floor in to the shower. Or empty the bathroom bin. Or stick his hands down the toilet to swish the water around.

I have very quick showers

As for the second part, housework, I tend not to do too much as we have a cleaner, but even before it was similar to the shower scenario, little tiny bits done as fast as possible here and there. And then as much done in the evening when he's gone to bed, washing clothes, hanging out to dry, any ironing (yeah, right, like I do any ) etc etc.

Like tulips - I baby proofed the bathroom and locked her in with me.

Somewhere in toddlerhood I starting using the TV to get showered/dressed or while she has breakfast with dh.

I used to pop DS in his cot with a basket of toys kept for purely that purpose. He didn't play with then any other time of day so they were a novelty. I would have him in the bedroom with me while I got everything organised then pop him in the cot, super fast shower and hair wash and out again. He was usually fine with that and he got to know the routine pretty quickly - then it became a race to see if he could throw all the toys on the floor before I had finished!

My solution is that I never have one unless a) DH is here or b) he's in bed!

Actually no thats not quite true - once he was big enough to sit up in the bath we'd have a bath together in the morning and I'd use the shower (its over the bath) to wash my hair.

But these days DH leaves for work much later so I can have a decent shower if I want (we also have a new bathroom and its bliss!!)

DD tends to stand next to the shower and stare at me.
We usually have a conversation along these lines
DD 'boobies!'
Me 'Yes'
DD 'mummy got boobies!'
Me 'yes I do'
DD 'mummy got 2 boobies!'
Me 'that's right'
etc etc.

When she was younger I'd put her in a bouncy chair by the shower and talk to her.

I used to wait for ds to sleep. DD used to be quite happy watching cbeebies for as long as it took me to shower but ds is too destructive and his naps too erratic so I've started showering at night and just having a quick wash in the morning. Housework I just do as I go along, it used to be a problem because ds would scream unless he was in my arms so I had to do it all with him in the sling but now it's fine.

Teehee PeppermintPatty - that reminds me of a recent conversation with DS (he was 2.8) in a shower cubicle at the swimming pool.

'Mummy, haven't you got a winky any more?'
"No, darling, I never had one."
'Mummy what happened to your winky?'
"I never had one."
"Would you like a winky? Can you get one for Christmas?"
"No, I can't get one for Christmas. And really, I'm just fine as I am"
"Mummy, I lost my winky too" (DS tucks his winky and balls between his legs)
"No, DS, they're still there, you've just tucked them away."

At which point I heard snorts of hysterical laughter from the shower cubicles on either side of us

LOL becstarlitsea!

DS feels very sorry for me that I don't have a willie. He wants to see what I do have instead though!

Bouncy chair in bathroom worked for me. Same for doing stuff around the house; I'd bring her with me and chat while I worked (not that I did much, frankly).

we had a bouncy chair, then once that was outgrown a fisher price bouncy thing cheap from gumtree - like a walker but static iyswim. she doesn't love it exactly but will tolerate it for showers.

housework until recently i did with dd on my back in a sling but now (10 months) she just follows me round and pats the hoover. i don't do very much though

My DS is only 10 months at the moment so I just leave him in his cot with his toys but that tends to mean he just stands up and screams and shouts until I get out. I have very very very short showers until the weekend when DP can entertain him when i'm in there!

Playpen/travel cot until you can put them in front of tv and know they will stay there for the duration and not trash your house.

But you have to do it from 6 months or so, i.e. sitting age, to get them used to it. You can't expect them to suddenly love the playpen at a year old.

Worked for me - my dd1 used to go in it when I was in the shower when she really didn't need to anymore. I got about 20 mins before she started shouting for me, and it meant I didn't have to use her nap time to have a shower.

Didn't use playpen while doing housework, used to just keep one eye on them, but useful for things like having to get washing in from garden or bring shopping in from car.

My shower is an over the bath one so I used to put DS in his baby bath in the bath whilst I showered. I dried myself in the bathroom then got DS out to dry. when he was older used a play pen. older again - used the tele.

With my dd1, I used to stick her in one of those saucer thingies (what are they called? activity stations?) that they can stand in and turn around to play with the various toys on it. Worked really well for ages. Stupidly I gave it to someone else so dd2 just roamed around bathroom investigating things she shouldn't have while her big sister watched CBeebies! Now I find the best thing is to shower first thing in the morning before I get them up as I know that's the only chance I'll get. Like many of you I suspect, I'm an extremely fast shower-er (unlike dh who takes his time grrr).