How Do You Do It?......Stay Sane with a 2 Year Old.

[Aussiegirl777]

How do you manage to keep hold of your sanity when you are stuck at home with a grumpy (mild croup) 2 year old and it's raining outside and said 2 year old is pushing every button that you have and some you didn't even know you had. I know that every part of this situation is normal but I'm just interested in how the rest of you get through these days.

[~Hestia~]

Many a mid afternoon shower or bath has gotten us through the rest of the day! Other times we empty out the plastics cupboard. Make a cubby out of the kitchen table. Just start throwing soft toys up in the air, that always gets some giggles! Pop them on a blanket and pull them around the house. Stories and cuddles

[~Hestia~]

Oh meant to add that there is nothing wrong with popping on a dvd or the telly for them to give you some breathing space!

[Aussiegirl777]

Thanks, Hestia! Blanket pulling might be a good idea, we do have carpet but it could still be a bit of fun. I'm hoping for an afternoon nap. (maybe for both of us) and then off to a fresh start again.

[Jellyfish]

My DD2 is 22months and these are some things we do together...

Colour treasure hunts. Look around the house for things of certain colours to collect.
Simple hiding of things or hide and go seek.
Setting up farm animals.
Stacking things, can use anything.
Transferring... tweezers, spoons, tongs etc with marbles, pompoms, strips of paper, cooked or uncooked pasta, rice, lentils etc.
Marble or pompom runs, use toilet rolls cut in half for ramps and stick on windows, glass doors or we used a table turned on it's side. Can also be fun to send rice or lentils through but bit messy.
Songs with actions or baby gym/yoga type things. Can get ideas from YouTube or I just make it up lol.
Inside obstacle courses with different things to step over, under and through.
Drawing, DD2 particularly likes me drawing things for her to guess like animals.
Dress ups, I just went through our wardrobes for a few old things to cut up into caps and head accessories etc.
Water play in the bath or shower, lots of containers and pipettes and things.
Grab a bunch of containers from the kitchen that have different ways of opening and shapes and lids from them to undo and redo and match and stack.
Paper or felt dolls, colour coordinate clothes for matching games.
Long sticks and light balls for golf type play, lay cups on their side as goals or lay duct tape on the carpet as paths (also good in the obstacle course)
Make instruments out of pots and pans and anything with rough edges to drag something along.
When it isn't raining collect some different leaves, seeds, shells etc and put it in a basket with a magnifying glass and mirror. My little one will sit with this for ages!!
Play with light, a torch with different colours held over it or shadows.
Find an old box with a lid, make a hole in it you can post things through like paper or bottle caps.

When my kids seem in a mood the most important thing for me is to forget everything else (housework etc) and just be present and patient with them.

[PumpkinZulu]

When I'm really desperate, abc4kids lol. A blanket, a snack and a pillow on the couch usually works. Otherwise...I go and make a coffee. And another, and another

[LoveKnowsNoBounds]

Don't feel bad, it isn't easy! Play dough is always fun. Watching a favorite tv show. Building with duplo together. Drawing or scribbling. Playing with a doll house or toy kitchen. Tickling or singing. Making cupcakes or biscuits they can help with. Doing some cleaning, they liked to follow me around with the vacuum cleaner. A drive in the car to get out of the house. A bath/shower together. I hope something here gave you an idea. Though when they are sick and grumpy, nothing much seems to work here either!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

How do you manage to keep hold of your sanity?

I didn't. Wheeeeeee!

[Aussiegirl777]

Thanks everyone. After a good nights sleep I was back to my normal awesome Mummyness. LOL. One thing I did realise was that particular day I was also trying to clean my house from top to bottom, god knows why but it seemed important at the time, and I now see that I wasn't even giving DS enough of my time. All came clear in the light of the next day. Thanks for the advice everyone