It has already started... at 16 months!

Collarspace Discussion Forums

Home Login Search

It has already started... at 16 months!

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> It has already started... at 16 months!

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 5:44:58 AM

jlf1961

Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008
From: Somewhere Texas
Status: offline

My niece is the night manager at a Burger king, so her boyfriend and I take care of my great nephew the nights that she works.

This Usually goes without too much trouble, he is actually a well behaved kid considering his age, with few exceptions.

Exception 1: Dinner time. Damian has reached that point where he wants to feed himself, and he is actually getting very good at getting food on his little fork or spoon and getting most of it in his mouth.

There is, however, one caveat.

For every bite he takes, he seems to think that the dogs should each get a bite. We have six dogs, but thankfully only three have decided to let Damian feed them by spoon or fork.

Easy solution, keep the dogs out of the dining room, right?

Wrong! We lock the dogs out of the dinning room, Damian retaliates with taking a bite, taking a spoon or fork full of food and fires it at the nearest unsuspecting adult, while expressing his displeasure at the fact that he does not have his dogs with him.

Exception 2: On those evenings where it is really warm, the practice used to be to let him run around in just a diaper.

His response: Wait till no one is looking and he immediately removes his diaper and proceeds to run around the house naked. Would be no problem if he was potty trained.

Exception 3: Bath time. Now the adults in charge feel that bath time should be around 8:15 to 8:30 in order to get him ready for bed.
Damian feels that one bath is not enough, not just at night, but all day. When he decides it is time for bath number whatever, he takes an adult by the hand and leads them to the bathroom door.

Of course, our response is to say no and walk away. His counter tactic, when he eats breakfast, lunch, a snack he manages to get enough on him to warrant a bath.

Now last night he added a new twist to his routine.

Setting: My room
Actors: Me, Damian, Lil red, jasper, David and Damian
Lighting: Desklamp only
Music: A play list of Damian's favorite mix of music videos from the 80's to modern rock and soul.

Dialogue
Me: Damian are you ready for nite nite?

Damian (at top of his lungs): NO, YUCKY
(imagine toddler with scowl on his face, turning and running out of the room, flanked by two dogs)
(now imagine 51 year old american male trying to catch said toddler who has two dogs running interference for him.)

This continued for about 10 minutes at which point I decided to let the guy stay up and wear himself out.

His reaction? Drag my big pillow off the bed (now he could not climb up on the bed, he had to have the pillow on the floor) grab his bottle from the nightstand, and lay down with his head on the pillow, sucking his bottle contentedly with his two favorite dogs on either side of him.

Result: Within about 3 minutes, he was sound asleep cuddled with Jasper, his arm over Jasper's side.

Now, I challenge any of you to untangle a 16 month old toddler from his dog while he is asleep and put him to bed, WITHOUT waking the little Angel (note sarcasm) up.

Oh, BTW, naptime during the day? At about 1:30/1:45 he asks for a bottle, comes into my room, demands his music be put on, climbs up on my bed, curls up in the corner next to the wall, and goes to sleep with no problems.

I really need to win the lotto so I can arrange for my niece to not need to work so she can deal with the obstinate, head strong, independent lil tyke.

_____________________________

Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?

You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of.

Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI

Profile

Post #: 1

RE: It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 9:01:22 AM

DesFIP

Posts: 25191
Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
Status: offline

Why do you restrict baths to one time a day? My daughter found baths relaxing and fun. She would play in the tub, get clean, and have a book read to her. Then announce you'll finish the night time book once he's in bed.

Additionally, since he sleeps better on the floor with a dog, move his mattress to the floor and put a gate on his room so he can't get out during the night.

No help with meals since we never fed the dogs from the table to begin with. Treats went in the dog's dish, people food goes in people dishes.

_____________________________

Slave to laundry

Cynical and proud of it!

(in reply to jlf1961)

Profile

Post #: 2

RE: It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 9:16:46 AM

ChatteParfaitt

Posts: 6562
Joined: 3/22/2011
From: The t'aint of the Midwest -- Indiana
Status: offline

Whoa you're quite the dominant, letting a toddler dom you.

That you asked the tad if he wanted to go to bed is a big clue that you could use some child psychology background. It's the extremely rare active child of that age who will answer with anything other than a negative to that question. But let me try to take this one step at a time.

Dining times with the dogs, you are letting the little guy dictate to you. Stop that. Take the spoons or forks away or even the food away, until he behaves. Don't be mean, and don't yell. Just nicely and calmly tell him the new score, that if he eats nicely without tossing food around, he'll get to give the dogs a treat, or have a bath, or whatever works. Realize at 16 months, he has limited short term memory, so be prepared to reinforce this often. Also, he's been in charge, so I woudl at first be prepared for a full tantrum. Ignore it w/o letting him hurt himself.

Since he likes bathes, use them as rewards. He likes the dogs, use them as rewards too. Don't yell or scream or fuss. Just tell him the deal, as if it's the way life is.

Since he likes being naked, try for some early pre-toilet training. Appeal to his desire to be a 'big boy' and go wee wee like the big boys do. Jazz this up by showing him how he can aim his urine and other fun stuff. If he keeps taking his diaper off, toss him in a play pen and keep explaining why he's there.

Shesh, let him sleep with the dog. As long as the dogs are healthy I don't see an issue.

With a toddler, learn to pick your battles, and let him explore his world as he wants, as long as he's not endangering himself and you can keep him contained. He's very active, so he needs lots and lots of active things to do. Fortunately he's small, so walking with the dogs a few times a day should tire him out nicely.

_____________________________

(in reply to jlf1961)

Profile

Post #: 3

RE: It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 9:59:14 AM

erieangel

Posts: 2237
Joined: 6/19/2011
Status: offline

My grand daughter is now 19 months. She's very well behaved, hardly ever has a temper tantrum and is seldom disagreeable. But she will run around naked if she is permitted, all kids that age do, they hate clothes. My daughter told me there will be no "just diaper days" this summer like there were last year. For some reason Elizabeth doesn't strip if she's fully clothed, just when she's down to her diaper. And when its time to change her diaper, it's a battle to keep her still long enough to get a clean one on. She wears Pull Ups now because they've begun the potty training.

Saturday evening when I gave Elizabeth her dinner, the dog sat right by her high chair looking for any scraps that she might drop. Elizabeth isn't allowed to feed the dog from the table and she knows not to. If she starts feeding the dog, then dinner if over, she's removed from her chair and taken to the living room. But all kids drop food by accident. Those accidental crumbs are what the dog were looking for and I've been told that some meals there are virtually none. And bubble baths are some Elizabeth's favorite play times. She gets as many as she wants, especially now that the weather is getting warmer.

Elizabeth's bedtime is usually between 8 and 9 pm, depending on how long an afternoon nap she had taken, how active her day had been. Saturday after dinner, I had her outside, running around the yard and teaching her somersaults so by 7 she was rubbing her eyes. By the time she out of the bath, I asked her if ready to go nite-nite but she said "no", so I put on one of her movies. She grabbed a blanket and laid down on the sofa. 15 minutes later, she was half asleep and I asked again if she wanted to go nite-nite and she said "yes". I tucked her into her bed, and she asleep before I had her door closed.

(in reply to ChatteParfaitt)

Profile

Post #: 4

RE: It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 1:06:31 PM

AthenaSurrenders

Posts: 3582
Joined: 3/15/2012
Status: offline

FR

Pro-tip: diapers still work fairly well worn backwards, and are much harder for little hands to unfasten. Not totally leak-proof but a considerable improvement over it being removed every two minutes.

My child is a similar age but completely non-verbal, so 'do you want to go to bed' would be met with no response. Does he have a bedtime wind down routine? Something simple like bath-story-bed? He might appreciate the familiarity of knowing exactly when bedtime is approaching. Maybe a big soft toy as a bedtime lovey too.

Throwing food is totally normal for this age group. I'd rather have to wipe up than to have my kid share a fork with the dog. He'll get over it quickly, toddlers appreciate boundaries. Chatte's ideas for dealing with it sound perfect (since it sounds like your boy has pretty good language understanding).

I dunno if you were kidding but I doubt he's getting himself covered in food in order to get a bath - that seems like a whole level of sneakiness above the average 16 month old's comprehension. Also, that's how they're supposed to look when they've just eaten. Is the weather warm enough to get a paddling pool in the garden? Or my daughter will happily play for an hour with a washing up bowl full of water and some cups.

_____________________________

Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?

(in reply to erieangel)

Profile

Post #: 5

RE: It has already started... at 16 months! - 5/8/2013 1:33:56 PM

jlf1961

Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008
From: Somewhere Texas
Status: offline

Pool is already in the works.

And yes, he does have a daily routine.

As for verbal skills, he really seems to have a grasp on a few words, yuck and yucky he got from his mom and grandma changing dirty diapers, as well as poop and poopy. As for no, well you can imagine.

He does not usually go to sleep on the floor, at bedtime he comes into my room, I put on his favorite music videos, while keeping the tv on, and he stretches out on the corner of the bed. When mom or grandma is not home, he wont go to sleep for anyone but me.

Since none of us feed the dogs from the table, we dont know where he picked that up.

The food issue is probably the worst thing we are dealing with right now.

One more thing, he does have a fascination with doors, if they are closed he wants them open, if they are open, he closes them.

_____________________________

Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?

You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of.

Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI

(in reply to AthenaSurrenders)

Profile

Post #: 6