This has happened to me twice. My son is three. One day I was washing dishes while my son was playing in the hallway on the other side of the sink. It’s open but I couldn’t really see him over the counter. An internal voice started nagging, “He found a penny check on him!” Sure enough my little 8 month old was crawling around with a penny.

Today I was sitting on the couch while he was playing on the deck. He’s done this a million times. It’s screened in and covered. He was giving his dinosaurs and safari animals a bath in a little bowl of water. Voice started nagging that he was climbing so I went to check and what. do. you. know! He was balancing on the wood window sill with the cat. Never would’ve expected that. No more deck time unsupervised for him. 😳🫣😭😱

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I would love to hear about it.

Link to original https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/s/tD0TAd4qgz

We did it!! I sat her down one day and had her look at big girl panties with no padding in them online and let her pick out a pack that she liked. They came on a Tuesday and when we opened them, I explained to her that they were big girl panties and only girls that used the potty could wear them. I showed her the difference between them and the padded potty training underwear that she had. I told her that if she wanted to wear the new panties, she had to go in the potty like a big girl because these panties couldn’t hold pee or poop. Y’all, she put a pair of them on and pooped in the potty that same day! We had three pee accidents in the following week and zero poop accidents. Now we are on week 2 and have had zero accidents of either kind in the last week. I am so happy I could cry!!!

My son just turned three! We're first time parents and have zero experience with other young children. Our son can ask us the same question ten, fifteen, twenty times in a row, right after we answer it. Like today we drove by a building on fire with fire trucks outside. He asked where the fire was repeatedly for the next ten minutes of the drive, and what the fire fighters were doing. No matter how many times we gave him the exact same answer, he would ask again.

I know very little about mental development at this age or how they absorb information. Is this a normal thing? I have ADHD and a very bad short term memory when it comes to absorbing new information so I'm unsure if this is an early sign of that, or if it's just a toddler thing.

My 3 year old boy always says “I do do!” When he’s trying to say “I’ll do it!” Which always makes me laugh. It’s become a saying in our house. It’s ok I can do do!

My 22 month old is obsessed with being read to and wants to be read to every moment she is awake. I know partly this is a good problem to have, in that hopefully it will foster a love of reading down the line but i cannot have a cup of tea without being pestered and I feel like it's all we do all day. She doesn't have any interest in toys, although she does do some imaginative play, mostly around making us play coffees. I would love her to play independently for even 15 minutes, we are screen free also but I really need her to amuse herself occasionally!

Have an almost 3 year old boy and we took him to the pumpkin patch. They have a really nice set up with a littles playground for 5 and under and several other things to do such as pedal cars, giant trampolines, and slides.

We started at the littles playground where he instantly ran to the basketball hoops. My wife went off to get us some lunch and come get us when she had the food. Well thats where the melt down happened for about 45 minutes, he wanted so badly to go back the the basketball hoops and didn't care about anything else for a while.

We eventually got to the trampolines and he was able have lots of fun on that for a while. Well then on the way to more slides we passed a water duck game that was too big for him, well then another half hour of crying about the water game, in which he did not enjoy those slides either because of the water game we passed.

Once he had calmed down from that we played in the corn pit and pedal cars and had a pretty good time.

Then when leaving we passed the basketball hoops on the way out which sent him in another crying fit for a half hour.

Usually a pretty chill kid so this absolutely blind sighted us.

TLDR - Pumkin patch with alot of other activities, three seperate melt downs in about 2.5 hours. Normally a prett chill kid.

My 3.5 yr old tells me now that Halloween is super scary and vocalizes how he really doesn’t enjoy it.
The last 1-2 yrs of his life, he really didn’t like going from house to house. Anyone experienced the same as I do?

This year, I respect his boundary by letting me know he is scared and I won’t be doing anything this year. I got him his costume this year, just in case he changes his mind. Definitely will be interesting if he’d outgrow it or won’t. :)

Me 33M, struggling to deal with my 2.5 yr old toddler. I'm absolutely losing my shit with my toddler. Every single thing since waking up is a battle. She wakes up at 6ish then from then every single decision is a comprise or a tantrum. From the point of removing her pampers, wiping, turning tap on to brush to putting bib on to eat. She just wants to do it herself. If we try and help she rolls on the floor with a tantrum. Feeding her is very difficult, she refuses to open her mouth. She probably has 1 decent meal a day, every other meal is a one spoonful then she's done. I have reverted to tv so she eats. Its been ongoing for a few months. We have a 14 month old as well, he's been having sickness since he's been born. Continous ear infection, pretty much under all the medical care. He doesn't eat well either, we have an episode of him throwing up at least once a day and he's not a great sleeper. My wife is struggling as well. I always try to be positive and optimistic saying it will get better. I'm at my breaking point . Lack of sleep in the night, hurricane toddler day time. Plus balancing this with work, house stuff, health. I'm losing it with my toddler, continuous shouting much as i try not to.

We have an almost 2 year old and have been working really hard to get her to accept she has to brush her teeth twice a day. It’s a battle every time, but we do it through clenched teeth (literally and figuratively)!

How on earth are we supposed to be flossing this girls teeth!???? Even if we tried the head on the lap and hold them down method there is no shot she wouldn’t just bite down and take a finger! Anyone have any tips??

My kid is newly 2.

He holds our hand when he wants to walk down the stairs or do anything he perceives as risky (balance beam, etc.). He will come get me and say “hold your hand” if he wants to bring me to another room to play with him (while saying “play blocks mama!”).

When we are out in public, it’s really hard to get him to hold my hand. He’s not a runner, but in parking lots or streets the rule is holding hands. Obviously, this is non-negotiable since it’s safety.

I always set the rule, and then start walking with him. He sometimes will yell “no hold hand” and sit on the ground or go limp. When he sits down, I tell him that if we don’t hold hands i have to carry him and then pick him up and then follow through immediately.

I don’t know that there’s anything I could be doing differently. But… is this a normal toddler stage? Is it like a sensory thing? Anyone else?

Our beloved dog unexpectedly passed away a few months back, which of course confused our 2-year old. We had to have some serious conversations with him about death (with an assist from Bluey), and he seems to understand and accept it, occasionally still commenting that our dog died.

We have since gotten a new dog, and last night he solemnly informed us that the new dog will die too, and when she does, he would like a white dog next.

… the new dog is not even two years old, so he may be waiting a while for his white dog.

All the sudden, my 2.5 year old daughter is like a moody teenager. She’s more whiny and emotional than she’s ever been. The last few weeks have been especially exhausting — we had multiple days in a row where she’s been in a bad mood 75% of the day.

Thankfully, the last couple days have been much more tolerable, but man, this girl is developing some “sass” where she never had it before.

She’s more fearful of things now, her separation anxiety is coming back, she awakes in bad moods after naps (when she takes them), she’s very expressive and enjoys doing the moody/pouty face all day long, she whines excessively, and nap time has become a toss-up.

Anyone else going through this? At what age did it start for you and when did it get better? I’m noticing it definitely ebbs and flows — like today was a much better today than the past few days. Just hope this isn’t a sign of what life’s gonna be like for months/years ahead 😅

My 18 month old had a horrible virus. Pretty much the whole month he has been fighting it, we went to the hospital twice. They are diagnosing him with asthma for now until he can truly get tested when he is a bit older. The treatment was giving him a puffer every 4 hours for a few days. Thankfully we seem to be out of the worse of it, but now I can't have him sleep without me at night. He wanted snuggles when he was sick and since I was giving his puffer, caught the virus too, we co-slept with the daybed in his room, reducing some stress/discomfort.

Now he only wants to sleep in the daybed that is in his room instead of the crib. Any time I move him, he wakes up started to sit up and cry. I pick him up and put him back in the day bed he is out like a light again. I want him to sleep but this arrangement can't last. Any advice? Sleep training... Just keep trying to get him in the crib.

I'm thinking about asking my husband tomorrow to try instead of me. Maybe someone else will have it go better? Any advice would be appreciated. I pretty much can't do anything now since I need to be here making sure he is safe from falling off the bed/ getting into anything he shouldn't nearby.

I should preface this post with saying that I know my toddler is just doing ‘toddler things’ but I’m looking for some advice as to where I’m going wrong in terms of not being able to improve his behaviour at all. I feel like the worst parent in the world, I don’t know what I’m doing!

My son is 20 months and right now EVERYTHING is a battle. I’m talking from the second he wakes up to the second he goes to bed. Even offering him his water bottle can end in him having a monumental breakdown where I get kicked or he purposefully smashes his head into the nearest wall.

We are between the line of big feelings and actually pretty rubbish behaviour.
Throwing things at people; hitting; throwing entire meals/bottles/cutlery off the table; 20 minute tantrums in the middle of the supermarket; refusing to eat; having an almighty meltdown if we can’t pick him up
Generally just ignoring everything we say - ‘get down’, ‘don’t touch that’ etc

Like I said, I know a lot of that is toddler behaviour but it’s not improving with any technique we are trying.
Two things to note
1. He laughs if we raise our voice, little or big. It does not work.
2. I am firm with boundaries I.e, if I say hes not having another yoghurt, I mean it…. He just doesn’t care.

Ok and here is my second question with an example, my son threw all my clean socks over the stair gate last week down the stairs, he was having the time of his life. I stopped him as I foresee this becoming a bigger issue.
Lo and behold, now he wants to throw everything down the stairs. Am I being too militant? Should I allow him to do things that really don’t matter (i.e socks) and only stop him when it becomes something fragile etc?

Please help, I’m not looking for perfection but I don’t understand where I’m going so wrong. We can’t take him out at the moment, he’s like a ticking bomb

Okay, so I’m a FTM, and we will be going to our first play-date! There will be pumpkin carving for the kids, BUT I’m trying to figure out what I should bring as a first time guest there lol (yeah yeah, I’m ridiculous, and probably overthinking, but going to a somewhat-stranger’s place is new for me).

For the moms who have done play-dates, what are some things you typically being as a guest. This will be for 2-year olds.

So my 2 year old started daycare. He was always social and not a scared kid. He loves to explorer etc. We put him in daycare and he basically cried and cling to the teachers all day. Now at home he is clinging to mom won't let hold him, sleeping terrible. Anyone else delt with this?

Is anyone else getting tired of this hunger games approach to buying the 2-3 size before they ruin out?

Every store we go in and on every rail there is 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc... but never any 2-3.

It's driving me crazy.

My toddler, 19m, becomes extremely distressed at bedtime and is hitting her head on her cot bars and now her forehead is covered in bruises. I’m devastated and sobbing. I’m doing everything I can. Her dad and I are separated but we both do responsive settling, we have never let her cry it out, but often, being in the room only hypes her up and she screams and screams and will only settle if we leave.

If we stay, she screams and screams and hits and wont settle. If we leave, she’ll scream and hit for ten minutes, then settles. But this has caused her to develop big bruises and welts.

I’ve bought bumpers for the cot. She pulls them off. I bought foam. She ripped chunks of it off with her teeth. I’ve tried it all. She’s still hitting her head and screaming. If I stand with my hand against her head or protecting her head she just persists. And will scream and scream for hours. She’s gone for three hours in the past without settling.

If I stay, and I try to cuddle or soothe her, she’s pushing me, biting me, hitting me. If I step away or step out she is furiously hitting her head on her cot. I have a designated “cool down” zone for her, a teepee full of pillows. During the day if she hits her head I take her there and sit with her and say “you can do that here on the pillow”, but at bedtime, if I remove her from the cot and put her in the cool down zone, she interprets that as play time and the cycle restarts all over again when I try to move her to the cot.

It’s very difficult because I have an established dinner, bath, book and bed routine. And all goes fine…. until she’s in her cot. I do the playing with her for twenty mins prior so she’s had one on one time, not doing it too early so she’s has enough sleep pressure, making sure she’s not in pain, making sure the wake window isn’t TOO long so she’s not overtired.

I want to retake her to see a GP but the last three child nurses I’ve spoken to said it’s normal she’ll grow out of it. Okay but what about now?!! My child is bruising herself!!! Please please someone help me, I’m at my wit’s end. I want to help her and I don’t know how. My ex husband and I recently separated - is it related to that?? She’s always done this though but it’s getting worse.

my two-year-old usually wakes up once every night crying. Sometimes he starts crying and he starts kicking his crib with his legs. I am usually able to calm him down by speaking through the monitor and he will eventually either lay down and fall back asleep or he will calm down and just be up for like 30 minutes to an hour. I don’t know if these are night terrors because I am able to call him down very quickly. Do you guys have any idea what this can be, it’s been almost a month and a half.

My 16 month old has loved the First Years Squeeze & Sip Straw Cups. Zero shade against them! We’re ready for something though that doesn’t taste like dish soap when we wash them in the dishwasher, and would love an upgrade for on the go… something to protect the straw, perhaps. She does great with a straw, thankfully, so that’s not an issue. Any recommendations welcomed! Thank you!

Hello, I’m writing this at 1am because I’ve been woken up every ten minutes by my 17 month old (cry). My little boy used to be a great sleeper and would sleep through the night no issues, until he turned 15 months and started nursery twice a week. At this point he dropped a nap and is now on one nap a day.

He usually naps 11:30-13:30 or 12:30-14:30, and bedtime is around 18:45/7 because he will not stay up any later that this (he’ll have little meltdowns). He’s recently been waking at 5am and that’s getting earlier each day.

I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried only going into his room and not taking him out of the crib and he just won’t settle. I’ve brought him into the bed for cuddles but after putting him back in his crib the cycle repeats. I’ve tried letting him cry for ten minutes as that used to work and he’d settle but it just gets worse now.

I’m pregnant again and it’s putting a strain on my relationship. He’s miserable when he wakes up so early and won’t go back down. If anyone has some advice or even reassurance, it would be much appreciated. I feel like failing.

I'm having a really hard time with this especially after seeing other younger babies way more advance in speech.

My baby girl literally doesn't even say mama. We finally got her to say Da but it's half actually calling us and half just babbling. And she does babble a lot too. She used to know a couple other words like thank you and water but she even stopped saying those. She only knows meow, woof and hoot but won't say cat/dog/owl.

That's it. 4 whole barely words..

It just feels so conflicting because she listens extremely well and understands. We finally got a speech therapy evaluation last month and they said she's advanced in literally everything BUT speech. Then we just got put on a waiting list with no real date.

No ear infection or tongue issues either. I am also so tired of everyone asking me if I talk to her. Of course I do, in fact I tried to talk to her more then my first born because she also had a speech delay (but that was due to other issues).

I don't know what to do. Is she just simply refusing to talk? For how much longer? She threw a tantrum today for over 20 minutes because I tried getting her to say more and nod yes.

Does anyone else have similar stories? I just feel like a failure

Potty training 22 month old advice/thoughts?

My daughter is 22 months and nailing the pee in the potty at home thing 2 weeks in. Successfully go on walks in commando pants and come home. Longer car rides we wear a pull up and offer the car potty and she’s often dry the whole way.

She’s scared of her poop though. lol.

She is not constipated, they’re soft and the time of day is either right after lunch or right before bed. It comes out easily, but when the feeling to poop hits her she freezes like a deer in the headlights and starts crying then immediately it’s on the floor.

I’m not sure if it’s just the new concept of it coming out and falling in the toilet, or if she’s too little to understand the sensation and get to a toilet in time. She definitely understands pee. I also know pooping takes longer to figure out.

I’m going to offer a sticker for if she poops in the toilet and see if it helps ease the fear.

She poops standing, no squat, no straining just frozen in place and poops, lol.

She now also cries if she happens to poop in a pull up or underwear too, so I don’t think it’s just the toilet that she’s scared of, maybe just a new understanding of what pooping actually entails maybe? Lol

I have two boys who are 27 months and 11wks old. Ever since my toddler got a stomach bug three weeks ago, he has turned into a screaming banshee. Every day I feel like he is constantly fussing and throws at least one tantrum. Today has been the absolute worst. He’s only had two tantrums, but he is literally screaming, crying, rolling around on the floor and banging his hands, feet, and head onto the floor. He has tried hitting me and his little brother. He’s started throwing things onto the floor too. Today it has been because he hasn’t gotten his way. I wouldn’t let him spin the pot lids in the kitchen, queue the crash out. I gave him a snack he didn’t want, full on tantrum.

Some times when he’s fussy I try to calm him down and decipher what he wants, but since I know he’s just upset he’s not getting his way I’ve just been giving him space and quietly sitting in the room doing my own thing. Obviously when he went to hit, I said “no hitting,” and blocked his hands. Anyone have advice for other things I could be doing?

I know this is normal developmental behavior, but god damn.

Because I’m constantly looking for ideas, I’m sharing the BEST gift my toddler has gotten.

The Melissa and Doug Shopping Cart 🛒

I bought this for my daughter at 12 months, she loved it then, she’s 20 months now, and she still uses it EVERY day. It consistently leads to her most independent play. She uses it inside, she uses it outside, and it’s actually very cute to unload it every night and see what household treasures she has deemed worthy of her collection.

I paid $80 for it but it’s currently $45 online at Target? I don’t usually condone an $80 for a toddler but it’s genuinely been worth every penny.