Yes it is true, I have 2 two year olds for the next couple of months (they are 10 1/2 months apart) and my oldest two year old is I swear Houdini reincarnate... she can climb over any gate, fence, barricade or chair and get into anything. No baby proofing lock can foil her and she can destroy a room in 10 mins flat. My question is this, she is fascinated with her clothes in her closet and everything I do to try and prevent her from entering and pulling every shirt off hangers, clothes out of drawers and socks apart doesn't stop her. I have bought her dress up to play in because I know that imagination is so key right now. Does anyone have anything that works to redirect this effort into something positive instead of 30 mins of clean up for me. She happily helps me clean up but I would like to stop the problem before hand. Timeouts and her nose in the corner doesn't seem to work...anyone else ever have this problem? How long does it last? And how do you keep sane?
Well thank you ladies, I moved her "closet" into the laundry room and now she just has her dress up in her room. She happily cleans that up and I happily let her : ) Thanks for all the great advice.
Teri
When she is ready to destroy the closet, help her pick a few outfits to play with, and then close the door and tell her that is all she getting. This might take a few times for her to get use to the idea but atleast she is still having fun with the clothes.
By the way, this is really trippy... there are 2 T. w's... Anyway, I just wanted to add to the advice that follows, a couple of times when she has made a big mess of her clothes, I have made her wear the same outfit everyday for a week... dirt, spills, and all. I tell her, "If you don't want to take care of all your pretty clothes, you will not get to wear them."
I hate to say, this seems to be the way some little ones are wired. My kids are both complete disaster makers... hopefully the baby doesn't follow in their footsteps (my sister only has one of five like this). I have gotten rid of more than half their toys and books, and a lot of clothes just to make the cleanup less troublesome. I have put a lock on my soon-to-be 4 daughter's closet, which helps a lot since she can't open her closet. If I forget to lock it, I know that I will be the one cleaning up. All her clothes, most of her books and toys are in the closet. I try to put in her dresser just enough clothes for the week (they don't always stay there).
Her closet is a bifold style. There are two kind of locks that work. One is rectangular and slides over the bifold part of each door (can be purchased at home depot). That one didn't fit in the space between the bifold door and the area above it. So I bought a swinging latch that is about 2" long and swings down over a small metal plate which had to be attached to the closet door. It works very well, and I have to reach above the closet to open and close it. My children did get it open once with a stool and a broomstick. I gave them a talking to and they have not done it again (besides, I think it's too much trouble). I hope this helps, good luck! : )
Try a dress up section for her seperate from her closet. That way she can make a mess and make it simple for you to clean up- like a box full of little dress up clothes. If she is like my girls they love shows- especially ones with heels. Maybe a special room- we actually have a play area just for the girls under the stairs where I put the play kitchen & stuff. You could do something like that with just dress up clothes. Just a thought. :)
Hope this is helpful for you. Good luck.
I would hang up her clothes in another closet that is too high for her to reach. Then I would stop worrying about folding clothes in the drawers and have her help you put them all back in the drawers for now without folding.....at least this is way faster than rehanging everything! As a mother of actual twins, my heart goes out to you and all I can say is "this too shall pass" and you will laugh about it some day. Their little phases are really short and before you know it she will have stopped this little adventure.
