Wild child...am I Alone Here?

Oh honey, I completely understand. I'm pretty much the one that pays him all the attention & belive you me....I get tired. :)
So here's what I do:
-play w/him constantly
-find new things that are entertaining
-take him places
-expose him to new things (weather it's the zoo or an in-house fort)
-run in the backyard, fly a kite etc
-he takes all my energy but he goes through stages (he was just running around the house tonight)
-he is so much more active than my friends' kids that are girls
-I take it as a good sign but boy-oh-boy do I get tired so......I find any alternative I can to "work with" my active one: new toys, new sights, thinking up creative things, trying any & all activies, parks, library reading times.
-Their attention span at that age isn't great so work with it & through it. You will come out the other side. Hang in there. Think innovatively. :)
Oh one more thing....while I miss the baby cuddle time, I don't miss the every 3 hr wake up to feed-time. Plus now.....he hugs me, tells me he loves me. Wondrous times are ahead. You just wait and see. :)

My #8 grandchild (boy) is the same way! My daughter has tried to put him in preschool for the past 2 years. He makes it a couple of months and then they ask her not to bring him back! Have no idea what she (or the school) is going to do when he is mandated by law to be there!

You are really lucky to have your husband to tag team with. Just hang in there with a united front and you will make it through. You are not alone!

He does sound very active and so you will need to make sure you have expectations. Make the rules clear and be consistent.

You know what he should be doing, but you must also make sure your husband is also using all of these techniques exactly the same. .

He is not too young to begin learning. Soon you will be able to even ask him, What is our rule? He will be able to repeat it.

We do not run in the house. We run outside.

We use inside voices. You can yell outside.

We do not pull hair, we are soft and gentle.
It hurts when you hit, soft and gentle.

You know all of this..

The next thing is to really make sure he gets a ton of really active play outside. If he were in day care he would be outside at least an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon for at least an hour. Go to the park and really let him go for it.. all of that climbing, swinging, running.. Hopping, jumping..

Super active children just have a lot of energy. If they cannot expel it, they can get cabin fever very quickly..

Running errands may mean really paying attention to how much time he is in the basket. Before you get int he car.. let him play and get rid of some of his energy, then put him in the car seat with some water. Once at the store If more than 20 minutes of him sitting you notice him getting antsy, you may actually have o park the basket and go outside for 5 minutes and then come back in. Just let the store know, you are just stepping out for a few minutes.

You may even want to consider some swimming lessons.. That will help him use up that energy.

With summer coming up, going to the pool will help him use up some extra energy. A wading pool at home, he can play for quite a while..

I have three boys and he sounds totally normal to me. You have to just nip his behaviour in the bud now, though, and start giving him time outs for screaming inappropriately, put him down if he pulls your hair and tell him you don't play with boys who hurt you or whatever. Anyway, our first was/is really, really difficult and we had twins after him who, believe it or not, are half the work of our first! People who have easy babies will never understand you, so just laugh it off when they tell you there's nothing to it. Hopefully the saying that if your first is hard your second will be easy will ring true for you should you decide to have more! It did for us, thank god, because now my first is five, my twins are two and a half and they are hitting the terrible twos and it seems my first son never outgrew them. They aren't nearly as bad as he was at this age, though two at the same time is trying. If they were as difficult as our first, I'd be writing you from a mental hospital right now!! Difficult kids are just that, so give yourself a break - you're allowed to find it hard!

We too have a difficult child. Thank goodness for backyards :) I have often had your thoughts and feelings. My mom smiles and says he's just like I was. ARGH! My boy is strong willed and knows what he wants. As your child gets older, I imagine you will get more cuddles--at least that's what we've found with our boy; however, we have other challenges now, those that are school related (our son is now in kindergarten). Along with your husband, do you have other family members or friends who are willing to give you time outs? That has also saved us and our sanity.

Additionally, allow yourself to be human. One day you will lose your temper. Be easy on yourself when you do. It will be a learning experience for you all.

And remember you are not alone. Most children provide some difficulties for their parents. Also, I just figure with my boy the challenges are on the front end. Usually, the easy ones at the beginning get more difficult in the teen years. :)

Both my girls are at the challenging end of the spectrum, and I definitely sympathize.

Oldest is spirited with sensory issues. Second (2.5yo) is very curious, active, and independent. Never walks, always runs. I do sometimes wish for an easy one, but I hope that all that spirit and energy will serve them well as adults.

Good luck. It's hard!

He might be my Aubrey's twin! Lol. My child was walking at 9 mos. and jumping off the couch at 10 mos.!!! She's 4 now and is still a huge nut! She's all over the place, loud, in your face, go go go!!! Since she was a baby I've heard "No wonder you're so skinny chasing her around all day!". And they're right! Lol.
I so sometimes wonder if she'll later be diagnosed with adhd, but for now, she's just my crazy little nutty child! :)

I could practically have written this a few years ago when my son was a toddler. It is hard and tiring. Most toddlers are hard to manage sometimes but the high energy ones are exhausting. But it gets better. My son is 6 now and sometime around 4 or 4.5 he started to clam down a bit and co-operate at preschool and it got a lot better. Actually at 2.5 or 3 when he was talking pretty well that helped a lot too. What helped me was getting him out to run around nearly every day and getting a mini trampoline for when we were stuck inside. I love my son but I am so grateful my daughter is totally different--much more calm and easy going.

There's no way to know at this age, but do write down what you're experiencing now. It will come in handy if things progress and you need to meet with a specialist in a couple years. You won't start noticing the crystal clear hallmarks of ADHD for another year or two, if it all. Our son was extreme when he was very young and we'd just collapse at the end of the day. Other kids appeared to be on sedatives compared to him. We later learned he had ADHD and a host of other conditions.

You may find, too, that he's just an active boy. I wish you all the best and hope that proves to be the case in your situation. :)

My son is 3 and he has been acting like that since he was born. He is always running, jumping and being active. I have always had a hard time keeping him still for more than a minute. One thing that helps me is taking him to the park every day. I take him and he runs and runs. Sometimes we run on the track and geez that boy can put some miles in! We take him to the playground and let him climb all over the playground equiptment and chase other children. We go for walks too in which I require him to hold my hand and we experience some down time. Letting all that energy out makes him soo happy. My husband is ADHD and says that he was also that way as a child. My son is 3 now and is just now starting to calm down a bit. We have our learning times where he can sit for periods at a time and go over the alphabet and numbers with me. He will also sit for me when we read a book together, which is nice. I also let him do things that some moms dont let their children to meet his energy needs, such as I let him jump on the couch. I let him jump on and off his bed. I provide for him a 'crash bag' (a bunch of pillows and blankets piled up) to let him jump in to. I let him run at record speeds thoughout the house. He may not be a easy baby (Never, ever had been) but I love him so much just the way he is. I get so many jealous comments how my son runs with me on the track and all their children want to do is sit in front of the tv. I love being active, and so does my son. Everything will be okay. Just appreciate who he is and do things that make the both of you happy.

My son does have adhd and is a nice mix of wild child and cuddle bear... I do not think I could bear it if he did not just calm down and cuddle with me - that's what I look forward to each morning and at random points - the calm cuddle. I say calm cuddle because he also has his cuddle where it starts nice but ends in a fidgety squirmy annoying boy - when he gets too bored or overly stimulated and that is the sign of a bad day in our home. Try to find moments of cuddle - show him how nice it is with the dog(s) or daddy and see if he is willing to try too, praise him and tell him how much you love this side of him too!