She Will Climb Mount Everest Before Age 2.... - Grand Haven,MI

Gymnastics
Climbing gyms
Okay climb zones in the house
(redirection... Just like throwers you give soft things to throw instead of hard, and runners okay places to run when they're running in unsafe places.)

Baby proofing these things, making it clear that climbing on them is not safe, and give her something she CAN climb. I think the silliest thing to do regarding redirection is removing a child from a book shelf and handing them playdough. Remove her from the bookshelf and put her on the indoor slide.

My son's a jumper and a bouncer always has been, we got him a rebounder trampoline (at 2) - he is 6 - STILL uses it.

Squeaky shoes!!!! we adopted our daughter from China and squeaky shoes were everywhere. She had a pair for every age as a toddler. As long as we heard squeaking, we knew where she was and that she was relatively safe. When the squeaking stopped, we knew she was up to something and it was time to check on her! And everyone thought she was adorable when we were out and about. (you can remove the squeakers for places like church)

Yup, I found my child on top of the piano before she was two...and now that she IS two, she's figured out how to unlock the gate on the side of the bunkbeds, which terrifies me even more. I found her on the top bunk the other day, even though I know the gate was locked.

Constant vigilance is important because a fall from one of those high places can results in serious injury, or death. I don't necessarily have my eyes on her 24-7, but I DO know if she's going for something she shouldn't be.

Baby-proofing didn't work for us, so I sound-proofed. Anything she should be going after because it could lead to a very dangerous situation has some sort of noisemaker attached (bells, etc.)

It does get better, too, as they begin to approach three and you can reason with them, as well as find other things for them to focus on.

For safety's sake, I would absolutely anchor anything heavy to the wall, however (bookshelves, etc) so that she doesn't end up underneath them.

Buy a plastic dish basin for a buck at the dollar store, fill it with water, but a towel on the ground, and let her play. I do that all the time, and the mess is relatively contained. That's also a perfect time to bring out the tea set.

(And of course we keep our doors shut, but in case you haven't seen it yet, she can PROBABLY open them. For our basement door, we installed a bathroom type nob the wrong way so that the push button lock is on the side going down the stairs. To unlock the door, you have to take an allen wrench and poke it in the little hole, and I keep the allen wrench well out of sight. Technically, I can do the same thing with my bathroom.)

***And like LoveBeingMommy, I invested in a pair of squeaky shoes when the time was perfect for it. I bought them on Amazon, and they were SOOOO adorable, but yes...I could hear her everywhere. I didn't need them in the house because of the bells, etc, but everytime we LEFT the house I'd have her wear them.

And isn't it funny...now that she's almost three, she WANTS to ride in the cart at the store. Also, most of the climbing has been confined to the park...just waiting for it to get warm!!

absolute firm boundaries around the danger zones in the house. it's an excellent time to develop an unequivocal NO and a granite mamaface that will make a toddler quail.
find some acceptable places where she can climb and let her have constant access to it. create a pillow corner if necessary.
take her out and let her climb around the world as much as possible.
take lots of pictures!
:) khairete
S.

My boys were both climbers too. I took them to the playground every day to make sure they had lots of opportunity to climb when appropriate. I also had a membership for the YMCA so they could climb on the indoor playstructure when it was too cold for the playground. I had a Little Tykes slide in the rec room for them to climb on, and I kept a two step ladder in the kitchen so they could safely reach the counter, and a step stool in the bathroom. I was very firm with them when I caught them climbing something they shouldn't.

I have climbers too and the way we help curb the climbing is to take them to the park/outside and let them climb, explore etc. If you make it a non-issue, she will eventually grow out of wanting to do it all the time. Encourage the climbing outside and she will settle down inside.

Of 8 kids, only my last was a climber, she climbed before she could even walk. If you turned your back for one second she would be on top of something, anything, even things you would think could be climbed.

What I did was just decided what things were a no go and what things she could climb. The chairs and table were fine, not a far drop if she was going to fall, but the tv and it's stand were a no go. Once we had the no-go's under control we worked on the other things. She's three now and only the back of the couch is still climbed.

I chose to not make it a battle, but we did have rules. It worked in my house.

Make sure each and every door has a door knob protector on it. I would punish everyone in the family when they left a door open too. This child is curious and is not aware of the dangers. When my daughter was born and I went to work at Anthony's a woman walked up to me. She said she heard I had just had a baby and wanted to tell me something. She told me her toddler had fallen into the toilet and drowned. She wanted me to promise her I would be vigilant about making sure the bathrooms doors were always closed. I promised.

Needless to say I had that picture in my mind and still have it in there today. I have always had shut doors, even the kids rooms are closed due to choke hazards.

So I suggest you find some way to stress the importance of shutting those doors. Then kick their hineys when they forget. She could drown or choke on something if they continue to ignore the importance of what you are saying.

We also fastened each bookshelf and other furniture to the walls with L brackets. That's common regulations in child care so it was natural for us to do it at home too.

My son climbed before he walked.
He and a friend of his at day care were both climbers.
Here they are, barely over a year old, and they'd be climbing up the little book case in the baby's room at day care (fortunately it was very stable - but it's not meant for climbing).
They both learned "Get down!" before they knew what it meant.
Some one would tell them to get down, and they started saying it like it was some sort of cheer.
Cute but exasperating!
The pair of them kept everyone very busy - you couldn't take your eyes off them for a minute.
Soon as they were old enough for the playground they were kings of the monkey bars.
You've got to teach that there is a time and a place where climbing is okay and where it's not.
You have to keep in mind how she could fall and what could fall on top of her.
She's going to be fairly fearless for awhile.
My son learned to be more cautious at about 4 yrs old.
He didn't fall but his mind caught up with thinking about what sort of danger he was putting himself in.
We were sure he was going to be great at going up climbing walls but the minimum age for many places is about 6 yrs and by then his fear of falling really kicked in and his desire to climb was toned way down.
We were very lucky we made it though this phase of his without him getting any head injuries.

WELCOME to mamapedia!!!

Get her in to gymnastics or tae kwon do where she can get the "energy" out. Heck, talk with your local indoor climbing places and find out if they allow 2 year olds in...

She's into stuff because she CAN. You need to be the parent and re-direct her, correct her, etc. Give her rules, give her boundaries and consequences for her actions. At 2, it MUST BE SIMPLE. Nothing complicated.

Put the kiddie locks on the drawers and doors. Talk with your pediatrician for other ideas for dealing with her as they know her. none of us here do.

It sucks that you would have to close the doors in your own home in order to control your daughter. How is she in public? Does she misbehave in public? If not? then she knows she can bend the rules at home. Time to step up mama!!

Good luck!

Be sure to fasten furniture such as book shelves and dressers to the wall.

My granddaughter likes to climb the ladder to the top bunk. They wrapped a large piece of cardboard around the ladder so there are no rungs on which to climb. The older child can climb up using the head board which is too high for the toddler.

Redirect her and take her to the park, even if winter.

My daughter was/is a climber. I also enrolled her in tumbling.

When my daughter was about that age, I found her on the top of the fridge. Yep top of the fridge! Only thing we could do, was put those door knob things on every door, tall baby gates and got her one of those step 2 climby things with the slide. Now for the top of the fridge, she got her butt spanked that's one of those danger things, she never did it again.

Love the squeaky shoes! Get her out and running. Put the door know thingies on EVERY door in the house. Limit the space she has to play. My kids had, family Rom, kitchen and foyer downstairs whe they were very young. They did not need to be in the living room, dining room or upstairs.
My grandchildren have the same conditions. This way I always have an eye on them. Gates are also your friend. Good luck. You have about another year or two until she realizes what she is doing.

I can SO relate--my son turns 2 in April and he climbs up the backs of our sofas, into his own highchair, on the tables, up the pantry shelves, etc and to the sinks.

Child resistant handles on the doors
Child resistant toilet lock
Time-outs for my older kids when they deliberately let him into the bathroom
Chain on our pocket door to our exercise room so he can't go play in our empty hot tub (the kids think it is like mountain climbing)