I have a climber.. HELP!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

DD1 is a very full on little girl, she does not stop moving and has now figured out her legs are finally long enough to climb everything and i mean EVERYTHING.

* She climbed the ladder into the trampoline while i was hanging washing (obviously didn't think she could or would climb it)
* She climbs onto the couch, the coffee table and then onto the couch off that.
* The coffee table and then INTO her high-chair (at it's highest height)
* The chair then ONTO the computer desk but only after typing on the keyboard and moving the mouse, THEN she pressed redial on the fax machine and called my mums mobile and was talking to her (i was feeding Z and could hear her talking and thought she was on her pretend phone. NOPE she'd figured how to climb)

Then today i was packing up in the kitchen, come out and fine her IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DINING TABLE, she climbed the chair then onto the table.

What can i do to stop her, aside from moving EVERY chair away from the rest of the furniture!

[tan32]

hugs hun.
If you find an answer I would love to know, my DS2 climbs everything including me.
I often find him on the kitchen table, we make sure all the chairs are pushed in and he just moves them so he can climb.
If i am holding him he likes to try and climb up my shoulders so he can sit on my head.

I have no idea what to do, all i can say is he has definetly given me some grey hairs and a few heart palpatations. We take him down and tell him no and he just keeps doing it. He has had a couple of falls and next minute he is doing the same thing again.
I just can't leave him for a second

[BhoysGirl]

Kind of have to admire her adventurous nature, even though it's exhausting for you.

I'm not sure that you'll be able to stop her completely, maybe you could remove some of the more dangerous access points, and for the rest try to teach her how to do things safely..... good luck though

And don't go to public playgrounds with her anymore - that's where my DS has learnt his most dangerous/heart stopping tricks, from watching older kids do things . If only the world were covered with cotton wool....

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

He has had a couple of falls and next minute he is doing the same thing again. I just can't leave him for a second

OMG DD1 has fallen backwards off the arm of the couch aswell and 2 sec later is back on there.

I like to think i am very diligent with her and am always keeping an eye on her but with DD2 i have to sit down and feed and she just totters off to do her own thing.
I also push the chairs in and although quite heavy she seems to be able to move them (odd as she is so so small).

Seems we would all love the answer, we tell her no and take her down, i have even said no and given her a tap on the hand, she throws a tantrum and goes straight back to doing it.

We also have a spare bed that has 2 mattresses on it and 1 is a pillow top, i found her ON this bed yesterday she had managed to get he foot b/w the mattresses and climb it and was JUMPING on it... how do they figure these things out?

She's 16mths for gods sake!

BhoysGirl - i do admire her spirit, it's what i :heart: most about her, i swear she thinks she's a 4yr old boy!
Oh the playgrounds, don't you worry she has mastered the art of those, FREAK of a child, she goes down slides by herself, climbs ladders... OMG she will put me into an early grave i'm sure of it!

[~Raven~]

Oh no

It's something that has to be ridden out unfortunately! My little climber drove me nuts

The only thing that worked for me was to remove anything interesting from the bench and table so at least there wasn't fun stuff to get into or throw on the floor. If it's boring then once the mountain has been climbed they get down (or at least you hope so).

I had nothing on my kitchen bench for months and my cupboards were overflowing lol

You can try the distraction technique and I did have some success with it to some extent. When I heard that chair being slid across the floor I'd declare it was story or blocks time or put on a dvd. Mine didn't have a great attention span for that stuff bit it was enough to break the habit after a while.

HTH

[~Kim~]

If it makes you feel any better I have a not quite 1 year old climbing up to the top bunk in his sisters room....the other day I found him on top (like up on the backrest) or the rocking chair which is quite high - he had moved something in front of the chair so he could get up there

So from me.....hope it passes soon

[Party-of-five]

lucy is a climber too...she is a little bit older than A but started climbing around the age A is now so I can say its getting a little easier she is learning what she can and cant climb that being said i still come out of the toilet to find her sitting on the dinning table

[2CheekyMonkeys]

my DD2 is only (almost) 11 months old and is climbing up on things!! i thought it would be a phase but reading these posts it seems it is gonna get worse! ARGH! i wouldnt mind if she got onto the couch and sat nicely but she is totallay oblivious to the edge of the couch, stands up and tries to climb over the hand rests or up the back of the couch. she also climbs up on coffee tables, chests, tv cabinet (well hangs off the tv cabinet door)! it is very scary and frustrating having to watch her ALL DAY!

[Rivlas]

From experience I can tell you if they are a natural climber they are usually pretty safe. My DD was climbing well before she was 1 and never had a serious fall.
She found the kitchen bench to be her favourite place, close to food, cookbooks and the phone
The thing you will have to be careful with is other children. Because your child can do it they think they can and you find them stuck up a tree and have to climb it to get them out.

[JellyBean]

Only consolation I have is that they DO grow out of it after about 3 (6?) months or so. I agree with removing anything interesting from the table tops etc. But until they get bored of it, it seems there is only so much you can do!! Its a complete pain in the neck. I used to put DS 1 in his cot for 5 when i needed to have a shower - just so I knew he was safe! LOL...

[amberj]

I'm joining the club. We've tried to move a lot of things to safety, but we have to be pretty dilligent in keeping an eye out for where our little monkey is getting into/ onto next.

tan32- my DS tries to climb me too, I think he's trying to stand on my head or something. Drives me batty!!!! I am often heard saying "mummy is NOT for scaling!"

[minimatron]

I am in this group too! I think its something that has to be ridden out. DD1 was a climber andwould fall, then 5 minutes later would be doing it again. She did it over and over again. Then either she stopped having the need to climb everything or was just steady enough to get up and do it without falling.

D2 is 15 months old and just climbs everything. I just try to breath! Shes been climbing 3 flights of stairs at mums since she was 10 months old...both ways. Am hoping this will pass soon. Its harder when you have a little bub that needs a lot of attention too. Good luck