the toddler tornado

[LucyG]

Whew. I feel a little silly admitting this, but I had no idea how exhausting it would be to have a toddler! Fun, yes, but also exhausting. Do you have days where you feel like your child just tears the house up while you watch and feebly attempt to put things back in place? Seriously, do you even bother to clean up until naptime or the end of the day, or do you try to follow along behind and make some order of the chaos? Maybe the trick is just putting a few toys out at a time? If anyone has any suggestions on how to best live with a pint-sized whirling dervish, please post them!

I have a friend with a three-month old, and when I see her amused expression as I chase my 16 month old DD around (while her DS plays tranquilly under his Gymini), I think, "Ah, I was in your place this time last year. Just wait!"

[candybomiller]

The trick is to get her to help you pick up. Link it to something she likes, such as "no cheese until you help me pick up the living room." My ds is a HUGE cheese fan, so this works for us.

But, no, you are definitely not alone. Welcome to life with a toddler. We're happy to have you in the club.

[lisams]

Yeah, I've kind of given up and just do a pick up at the end of the day. If DD dumps something out, them we do the "clean up" game. Sometimes we race to see who can do it faster, or I'll tell her to pick up all of the red blocks, or we'll count, or make a basketball game out of it. I figure as long as I make cleaning up fun, she'll be more willing to do it. But yes there are some things that are not worth the battle, the only time I really enforce the cleaning up is when she has dumped something out, or she wants to do somethimg else like go outside, I'll say "Okay lets clean up super fast so we can go out!" I was just thinking about how having a toddler takes a lot of energy! Your friend will have her time in a year or so!

Welcome to the club!
Lisa

[lukkykatt]

I now have 2 tornadoes, and I will tell you that I used to be a totally anal person. You will be surprised how much you find that you can just "let go" after a while.

Anyway, my friends and I all do different things, depending on our personalities. Some people follow along, cleaning up; some people clean up at naptime and then again at bedtime; some people try to get the kids to help; some people just clean up at bedtime...it kind of depends what works for you. Personally, I usually only clean up at bedtime unless things are a total disaster at naptime - I figure why clean up at naptime when everything is just going to come out again?

[Karenn]

I've found that the follow along behind and clean up route only makes things worse at our house! Once DS sees me putting away toys, he's reminded of how much fun they are and wants to get them all back out again. Yesterday I tried to clean up a couple of puzzles that were on the floor and I suddenly found myself with half a dozen puzzles and their individual pieces all over the floor!

I've tried to instigate a pre-bedtime clean up ritual with DS, but honestly, I'm usually too tired to make it happen! So usually, I clean it all up after he goes to bed. (And actually, sometimes I just leave it because I'm lazy!)

[Jeanmick]

LOL! For me, it depends on my hormones! Sometimes I have the tolerance for toys all over the floor all day and then other times I can't stand it and will start picking up after them. I will usually do a "final" toy pick-up after the kids are in bed.

We don't have a "playroom" for them to go to right now, so most of the toys are in the family room. For a while, I had all the toys in a basket, but then it got crazy. Puzzle pieces, Little people toys and blocks were starting to get mixed together and I began to go nuts. I ended up buying cheap plastic Sterilite (sp?) drawers from Target and put them in the family room. Now I have the toys in specified drawers (i.e., music toys, stuffed animals, puzzles, educational-type toys) and my DD knows which toys go in what drawer. In the beginning, I took a digital pic of the toys, printed the pic and then taped it to each drawer so that she would know which toys went to what drawer. Now she's pretty good about remembering where the toys go. It's still crazy and I do have to remind her to put the toys back when she's done, but it's MUCH better than it was before.

HTH!

[Sarah1]

I usually never clean as we go along, unless she's done something to my or DH's stuff (like dump out a box of checks, etc.) I'll usually straighten up the kitchen and my bedroom during her nap, but I don't clean up the toys & other miscellaneous stuff until after she's gone to bed.

[LucyG]

Thanks, everyone! I feel a lot better just knowing that I'm not the only one who goes crazy when the "tornado" hits! Like one poster said, I am pretty anal about keeping the house neat (note that I said "neat" and not necessarily "clean!"), so I'm probably just going to have to chill a little on that front. I do think, though, that I can start having DD help me clean up. She loves to put things into baskets and other containers, so at least she has that concept down. Thanks again! I really like coming to the toddler boards, because I hear from other people who let me know that I'm not going crazy. Life with a toddler is just chaotic, and you have to go with it.

[C99]

Nathaniel earned the nickname, "The Octopus" while we were visiting my parents in Texas last month. He still is an octopus -- into everything and everything's a mess. I don't bother cleaning up most things until he's in bed, but I try to get the things that stick (like the kitchen table) right after they happen.

[brubeck]

I live by the motto, "A place for everything and everything in its place." but I've had to relax it since having toddlers. Basically I try to clean up at regular intervals each day. Tidying up before lunch, before Daddy gets home in the evening and before bedtime usually works. If the kids take out something that is messier (eg: puzzle, Megablocks/Lego, crayons & stickers) I make them clean that up before I let them do anything else. DD is pretty good about helping if I ask her to. DS sees the example and he will SLOWLY put away one piece at a time. I don't know how long that will last but I am loving it while it happens!

That being said, my house is about on crticial overload with toys right now so it's harder to keep neat. We're going to do a bug Salvation Army donation at the end of the summer so I am going to be ruthless and take ALL the baby toys and donate them. I'll need to just to have enough room for the Christmas/brithday loot that comes in late Fall!