Where Is the MUTE Button??????

BAHAHAHA! I have two words for you: Angry Birds.

(Coming from the voice of experience - I have TWO girls who won't shut up!) Seriously though, my in-laws bought the girls iPods for Christmas, we loaded Angry Birds on there, and they've been quiet for months. Whenever I come home from work and just need a few minutes to decompress, I tell them to go play on their iPods for a little while, and suddenly... blessed silence! Aaaaaah...

Please, please let me know when you find it. I'm missing the same part for my 9 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old, AND 2 year old!! :)

Dear Mommy2-2:

Please find enclosed ear plugs and accept our sincerest apologies.

Thank you,
Tech Support

;)

LOVE YOUR INTRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok some mom's will be totally against this, but maybe get her an mp3 player of some sort and let her sing!!! Or maybe she'll stop talking while she listens to it. Of course make limitations on it so that it's not always on, or the volume to high. It sounds like she needs some diversion.

My son who is now 4.5 years old, is the MOST talkative one in the family.
Constant talking and asking questions and every spectrum of 'conversation.'
The other day, he was asking me about "do we live on a sleeping volcano? When does it wake up and erupt?" Ugh. All the while when I am trying to put him down for a nap.
Needless to say, I just gave him a curt 1 second explanation instead of going into the whole history of volcanoes and its nature.

Prior to this, from 19 months old until almost 3 years old, he was speech delayed and had speech therapy.

Now, he is no way, speech delayed.
ALWAYS talking.
I have on occasion just told him "can you not talk for 5 minutes? Mommy's ears are tired. I can't even think."

By the end of the day, my ears are just SO full... and so tired of talking!
But he does not whine.
He makes pertinent and really clever comments.
So that is good.
Still, it is tiring.

Even my 8 year old Daughter says, he is TOO talkative! And even she goes bonkers sometimes.
But, in Preschool, he is not this way and can control himself.
He behaves.

But as I said, he was previously speech delayed!
So, well I am proud of him.

If you find one, please share. :)

I now have three new names: "Heymommy," "Butmommy," and "Mommymommymommymommymommy..." My 4 year old is only (sometimes) quiet when watching a cartoon and sleeping, but sadly no longer naps. My only lifesaver lately has been that he is going to his room for 30 to 60 minutes (depending on the day) to "read quietly." Granted, I've got my 2 1/2 year old and the baby with me, but they do not chatter in quite the same way. If she isn't napping, see if that works. I've been letting my son borrow my purple body pillow to put on his closet floor to make it more fun and give him a reading space.

If he's super-obnoxious, I pull out a camera and turn it on and record him and zone out. It is kinda funny after the fact. :)

Oh, but Mommy2-2, the zoning out and only catching the key words is a wonderful skill to learn!!!

My boy is 14, and I promise, he hasn't come up for air in 10 years. Now he rambles on to me about computer and PS3 games that he plays and I just tune out - I catch enough to grunt, or say, "oh, wow, really" and the conversation just goes on. I do zone in on school related rambles and friend related rambles - but selective hearing, developed early in parenting, is a true lifesaver.

@ Catherine C. - I agree the MP3 players are a life saver. I gave mine one last summer and it has saved my sanity on road trips and shopping trips.

@Mitzi - I get all of those, still, plus - wait for it....he calls me Dude! sometimes, forgetting that I am not a 14 year old boy, but rather, his 46 year old Mom.

I wish strong ears for all of us.

God Bless

when my daughter won't give me two seconds alone i send her to her room to play. i have a short fuse when i'm frustrated, so i try to send her away before i reach the blowing up. she actually loves playing in her room so she doesn't mind. she will sometimes throw a fit cause she loves playing with mommy. but there are times where mommies need breaks too.

I never understood how or why my Mother seemed to be in her own world at times. I remember doing the, "Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama! Look at my socks, Mama! Hey, Mama? Why are my socks like this? MAMA, mama! Mama!". She would be making a cup of tea, doing a load of laundry, cooking dinner, and she seemed to not hear me. I finally get it. At the time it was SO annoying. Didn't she realize my socks were different colors AND falling down?! Now, I understand spending five minutes upstairs with the volume turned low.

Ha! I used to point the remote at my daughter and say, "This thing must be broken! The mute button doesn't work. Where's your off button?"

LOL...I love your post. I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but you made me laugh and I was in such a bad mood...

Anyway, as for the whining, my youngest (now 13) was a horrible whiner. I finally told him "mommy can't hear you when you whine." Repeat the second time. On the third time, he was sent to his room to practice speaking without whining. Sometimes it was a march down the hall and back before he was ready. There were a few times when it took him a couple of hours to work it out.

I use this with my students, although it's talking rudely, since I teach high school. Very effective when coupled with a smile and "the complaint department opens at 4pm. Feel free to return then!"

Have you tried giving yourself a time out? Something like, "Sweetie, I love you very much, but I need a break from all your wonderful stories. Mommy is going into her room/bathroom/kitchen/someplace else for 15 minutes to enjoy the sound of silence. See you in a few!" I've done this when the noise of my household became overwhelming.

When I was a kid, my babysitter watched 8 kids (six plus her own two). It got very loud. There were some days when she hollered "1-2-3 Little Red School House!" It was our code to play "whoever stays silent the longest wins a penny for the bubble gum machine." Worked beautifully, too, although some days we just trooped outside to continue being loud. Either way, she got the quiet she needed!

Good luck and thanks again for making me laugh!

Hahahaha!!! I know EXACTLY what you mean here & my model (2-27-01) has not gotten any better with age. I used precisely the same line of , "Will you PLEASE just be quiet for 5 minutes so mommy can hear herself think!" just this past weekend.

Too funny! I am right there with you. My son (now 6.5) started that up around 3.5 and hasn't stopped yet- and it's always AT FULL VOLUME! Very frustrating after a long day at work, so I completely understand.

We do the same things with asking him to go play in his room, give us 5 mins of quiet time, etc. He's just got a lot to say- very loudly! Our keyword is "volume." He knows when we say that he's too loud.

Our 17 mo old is also very verbal and when the two of them get going and get the baby girl (4 mos) going on top of that... sometimes I just have to walk away to the quiet chair. It's in the corner of our room, in the farthest spot from the rest of our small house. I always took them in there when they wouldn't settle as babies and now I still occasionally use it for that. They know if I go to the quiet chair to leave me be for a bit so I can calm down before I get mean.

I just had to add I saw a binky the other day that had "MUTE BUTTON" on it. When the little ones get cranky and I know that's what they need to settle a few minutes before I can get their food, put them down for a nap, etc, I always tell them to stick a binky in it. Makes them laugh, they get the point (and binky), and settle down. My older one tells the little ones this now and the toddler tries to give his baby sister her binky when she's fussy. LOL At least they're trying to help. =o)

Umm... I think we got the same kid. LOL

I have no help for you. I'm in the same boat. I just thought I'd say that you're not alone! =)

There's always bedtime! LOL Or gummy bears?

Ha Ha so funny! My almost 5 year old daughter has been talking since she was four months old. She talks and sings constantly, is always asking questions, and narrates everything she does. And the kicker...she even talks in her sleep, so I get no peace (except for the 3 hours she goes to school)! It is necessary to zone out a bit, I simply cannot process all of her chatter.

ROFL!

Don't worry, no judgment here, because I really feel your pain. My DD is model 8-7-2007 and I think they must be related. If it weren't for the different b-days, maybe they were twins separated at birth. She talks CONSTANTLY. And asks questions ALL THE TIME. Especially the same ones over and over.

"What time is it?" (every 5 minutes - I keep telling her to look at the clock but she still has to ask me first)

"What do blue and yellow make?" (I've told you 500 times - you know this)
"What do orange and purple make?" (I've told you also - they just make brown)
"What do brown, and black, and pink, and green and red make?" (*SIGH*)

"What comes after breakfast?" (play time) "What comes after play time?" (We have gym class today) "What comes after gym class?" (we get McDonald's) "What comes after McDonald's? (nap time) "What comes after nap time?" (more play time) "What comes after play time?" (dinner) "What comes after dinner?" (bed time). "What comes after bed time?" AAARRGH! Mommy gets a gin and tonic, how about that?

"Mama, do you want to play blocks with me?" (I have to do the dishes first) "Do you want to play blocks with me?" (When I am done with the dishes, I will play blocks with you) "Mama, I really want to play blocks with you! (I KNOW! I JUST SAID I would when I get done with the dishes! I didn't say no!). "OKAY Mama, you don't need to yell!" (grrr...)

"I want ice cream after dinner!" (okay, but you need to finish dinner first) "But I really want some ice cream! Please!" (I told you, eat 3 bites of dinner and you can have ice cream). "But I waaaaannnnnnt it!"

She sounds like a broken record and I'm starting to sound like one too. And part of me feels so guilty and horrible for getting annoyed, when so many of us wish they had all that chitter-chatter in their lives, because it would mean their kids were alive and healthy and normal. But, OMG, it never ends! I never wanted to be one of these moms that "wishes" those childhood years away, always looking forward to the next thing, but I must admit, the 2 afternoons a week that she goes to preschool now are a blessing and I'm looking forward to next year in preschool when she may go 3 or 4 mornings a week. Sometimes I have found myself telling her to please just stop talking for 5 minutes, even setting the timer. Sometimes I've just flat out told her that's enough, I'm not answering that question anymore, I am done. I've said, "There's too may words in Mommy's head! You have to stop talking for now because you are going to fill up Mommy's head with too many words and there won't be any more room! Mommy's head can't hold all these words!"

No real advice, I am just trying to survive it too, and enjoy what I can. All I can tell you is, it will not last forever. If I were you, I would see about preschool, 2 or 3 days a week, if you think she would benefit from it, and at least it would get you a break. I have a good friend with 4 year old twin boys that are wonderful but also drive her bonkers and we get together often for play dates so at least the kids play with each other and burn some energy off. The bright side too is that it sounds like both our daughters are very smart and once they get to school, they'll be curious and interested in learning and they'll do great because they love to ask questions. And at least they will be bugging the teacher with questions, and chattering with their friends, and we'll have a few hours of blessed peace.

In the meanwhile though, I think I am going to lose my mind. At least every day I could count on a 3 hour nap but I think she's getting ready to give that up. And I swear, she doesn't bug my husband nearly half as much! Why me?

Hang in there!

She's almost four? Can she be trusted to chew, not swallow gum?

It's a miracle worker, especially if she knows it's rude to talk with something in her mouth. Make it her "special" treat for when you need a few minutes of silence.