In some ways toddlerhood is easier for me. Eliza wasn't super happy as a baby -- I always felt like she was kind of pissed that she couldn't make her body do all the stuff she wanted it to. She's SUCH a happy kid now that she can run around and explore, and of course she's a lot more fun, too. I felt like 13-16 months was a much harder phase of toddlerhood for us, because that was when I was much more afraid of her killing herself. She was unsteady, into EVERYTHING, and didn't understand what "NO" meant. Now, I can let her do a few activities unsupervised and I don't worry about her.
That said, those unsupervised activities last all of 5 minutes before she wonders where I am and starts following me. She likes to play with [Ben], but again, that only lasts for a few minutes until she wonders where I am again. So it's hard for me to get a break at home. And she's SO much more manipulative and that's really taxing. She kicks me during diaper changes and thinks it's hilarious. Today I tried ignoring it and that seemed to help (but hurt a bit). There is a lot that she does for attention that is really tiresome to me, like deliberately eating paper in front of me to watch for my reaction, then I chase her around trying to fish the paper out of her mouth so it becomes a game.
I agree with [a previous poster], things have gotten easier as the weather has improved (and a lot more fun, too). We can run around outside and burn off that energy. My house is never going to look the way I want it and I've mostly gotten over that. I was thinking today how there is a toy/Eliza paraphernalia in every single room of our house, and that made me a little batty.
All in all, I'm enjoying this stage more, probably because I'm not so sleep-deprived, but IT WAS SO NICE to be able to leave a baby in the bouncy chair and know they would stay there while you took a shower.
That said, those unsupervised activities last all of 5 minutes before she wonders where I am and starts following me. She likes to play with [Ben], but again, that only lasts for a few minutes until she wonders where I am again. So it's hard for me to get a break at home. And she's SO much more manipulative and that's really taxing. She kicks me during diaper changes and thinks it's hilarious. Today I tried ignoring it and that seemed to help (but hurt a bit). There is a lot that she does for attention that is really tiresome to me, like deliberately eating paper in front of me to watch for my reaction, then I chase her around trying to fish the paper out of her mouth so it becomes a game.
I agree with [a previous poster], things have gotten easier as the weather has improved (and a lot more fun, too). We can run around outside and burn off that energy. My house is never going to look the way I want it and I've mostly gotten over that. I was thinking today how there is a toy/Eliza paraphernalia in every single room of our house, and that made me a little batty.
All in all, I'm enjoying this stage more, probably because I'm not so sleep-deprived, but IT WAS SO NICE to be able to leave a baby in the bouncy chair and know they would stay there while you took a shower.
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