Please!!! He's climbing!!

[jojo2324]

I should count my lucky stars we've been spared as long as we have. But it all ended two days ago. There he was, up on the table. :(

Now, aside from him falling down and clonking his head, my major concern with him climbing is Sorrel. Our house is small, so not too much available space. We have a small table top swing that she sits in...You can see where I'm going with this. The poor thing isn't safe anywhere! We have a PNP, but he chucks his toys in there, so that's a no go. (But I do have a net...But I don't think that's strong enough to withstand Tonka trucks and See 'N Says...) I can hold her, but then he's bouncing all over me.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking I'm never going to be able to pee again...:(

[Melanie]

Take the swing with you to pee?

I know what you mean, Ds was a late-climber, too (Thank Goodness!). I pretend now he's at an age where he can be reasoned with so it makes it easier. ;-)

[egoldber]

Hmm. I'm lucky that Sarah has never really been a climber and, in general, listens when I tell her to do something. But she is exceptionally easy going and quite sensitive to correction.

I think the most you can do is correct the behavior every time you see it. Nothing drastic, just "Oh no, Gannon, we don't climb on the furniture" and get him down. I would try and stop it now though rather than waiting, since the habit will only get more firmly entrenched. If Sorrel wasn't in the picture, you maybe could be a little more laid back, but you're got a tiny one to protect. But try to do the correcting in a matter of fact way, so that he doesn't see that it pushes your buttons.

Maybe you could put Sorrel in the carseat or bouncy, so that its easier for you to take her in the bathroom with you, which you probably need to do until this resolves.

Good luck!!!

[kransden]

DD is a big climber! Her favorite is standing in the rocking chair! I do what the dc does and tell her "No standing on the chair" then I follow it up by saying "Chairs are for sitting would you like to sit there?" Then I physically follow up any bad behavior. It took several times, but she knows what is expected and I don't have any problems now. Of course your mileage may vary! We are still working very hard on the "We only brush our teeth in the bathroom" as opposed to wandering around the house with the toothbrush in our mouth.

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[brubeck]

Joanne I had the same problem when Andrew was born. He would be quite content to lie on a blanket on the floor and then Amy would come tearing around and step/jump over him as if he were a discarded toy. Do you remember the corral area in our dining room? I would let Andrew sleep/lie down in there and shut the gate to keep Amy out (what a concept... it used to be there to keep her IN) and he would have a couple minutes of peace. Of course this didn't stop her for screaming and yelling but he learned to sleep through all that.

So my suggestion is, do you have a gated area where you can lock Sorrel IN and Gannon OUT?

[nathansmom]

No advice as I don't have another baby yet. However Nathan is big into climbing onto everything so I feel your pain.

[luvbeinmama]

Hear, hear! When DD was small, I put her in an old (big) playpen and told DS (almost 3 years old) it was her "safe zone". He knew what that meant because the couch was his "safe zone" when playing chasing games with us. Since Gannon is quite a bit younger, you can't do that. Therefore ITA with Helen's suggestion. You NEED to have a separate area for her or she will get trampled and or mauled by the wonderfully energetic older sibling!. I learned that the hard way. Having a safe place for me to put DD was essential to my sanity as you are finding out. As she gets older it will become unnecessary, but for now... you have to have something.

[jojo2324]

Not really. Our house is small, and set up in THE most asinine fashion. The builder should...NOT be building homes, that's for sure.

The only thing I COULD do is gate off the kitchen. I could put the PNP in the kitchen, but it would take over what space we have in there, and really be in the way. Or, I could put the swing in there, but that doesn't make the space problem go away.

He got up on the table again this morning. He's just so fast!!!

[toomanystrollers]

Yes, you can only pee first thing in the morning and after they go to bed!!

I think you need to permanently affix Sorrel to your body - kinda like being pregnant all over again LOL

[luvbeinmama]

Wow, that makes things more difficult (as if you didn't already know that! LOL!)! Our playpen pretty much took over our living room, so I kind of know what you mean about having a small house. Hmmm. Would re-arranging furniture help at all? Could you create a space for her with the couch(es?)? Trying to think of something...

[em_jon98]

I feel your pain with the climbing. We are working on this at our house, but nothing has been very effective to this point.

Redirect, redirect, redirect is what everyone keeps telling me. I wish they would all just come and see how darn quick miss Lindsey is. Her new gig started when she figured out how to turn on the lamp in her room (it has a decorative pull chain, so its pretty easy.) Now, she wants to turn EVERY lamp on and off, espically the living room lamps. She thinks they are perfectly situated on these nice platforms. Perfect for her to climb up and sit on and work on turning the tiny little knob thingy to switch on the lamp. It takes her about, oh, a nanosecond to get up on our glass topped end tables to work on her mission. And then there is the dining room table...always a great place to climb up and sit until mommy finds her.

Seriously, I'm not sure that the redirect is really working. I pull her down, give her the spheel about how it's not okay to climb on tables, she can get hurt, let's go climb up the ladder on your gym (2 feet from aforementioned end table, BTW) and go down the slide/ take bear for a ride/color/paint/go watch a show...anything. She gets interested in something else for a bit and then is back to climbing.

Perhaps you could put Gannon in the PNP for a few moments so you can run and pee or whatever (take Sorrel with you in the portable swing)? Lindsey hasn't been able to climb out of hers (yet, knocking wood), so that sometimes is a safe place for her to be for a few minutes when she needs to chill out from her "adventures." She is usually okay to sit for a few minutes with a few puzzles or books, or a really obnoxious/loud toy.