Anyone have a child who is a terror?

[Hobbermittens]

My 22 month old is an absolute terror. She is constantly getting into things, making huge messes, wrecking stuff, etc. Some people might call this being "busy", but it is a total nightmare. She makes me crazy! She won't play with toys, look at books, or anything normal. She just goes from room to room like a tornado, ruining everything in her path. Right now she is in the pantry, opening packets of instant oatmeal and dumping them on the floor. I am at my wits end! What do I do?

[TTC5]

Does she get out much (not meaning to sound rude either) parks/playgroups etc? xx

[Cinss]

Gotta love those individual personalities. Our middle child is like that, but it is just attention seeking, and friends of ours have a son like that , we cringe everytime they come over, he puts out washing detergent into our dryer and all over the carpet, rocks down our drains, kicks our dogs, and don't get me started on what he did in my nursery!

[Hobbermittens]

Oh Cinss--that's what I am afraid of happening--I don't want to have "that kid" who everyone cringes when she comes over!

TTC5, no, she doesn't go to play group or anything... I could look for one. It is winter and super cold here (today the high was 9 degrees F) so she can't go out much. I wonder if I should get her an indoor trampoline or something. I think it is more that she is just "exploring", but she is so destructive!

[MatildaMai]

One of my twins was exactly like that - had the attention span of a gnat. It started around 18mths of age. He was brilliant at breaking and destroying everything. But couldn't play or sit still for even 5 minutes. He would bite his twin viciously. And building sand castles out of custard powder or whatever on the kitchen floor was his specialty - argh!! Is amazing I didn't kill him. Initially I thought it was just typical toddler behaviour and we'd just moved house etc.... But his meltdowns and naughtiness seemed to be getting worse and more frequent. And no amount of playground activity etc helped. He also started refusing food (having been a very good eater previously). I suffered through about 12mths or so of this.

When he was 2.5yrs, the food refusal issue drove me to consult a dietitian for tips. She spent about 45 minutes in the room with us, asked some questions but mostly just listened to me talking about how my son behaved. She said 'You need a referral to an occupational therapist. He has sensory processing disorder. His eating issues are related to his inability to process things with his senses correctly.' So I went to the paediatrician. He observed my son for about 30 mins, asked some more questions about development and my sons likes/dislikes and said 'Yep - definitely SPD maybe even autistic spectrum disorder - he needs therapy.'

I was shocked and VERY skeptical. But immediately we started OT it made such a HUGE difference. He was calmer, he started to be able to focus on tasks and play like a normal kid, instead of whirling around like a tornado destroying everything in his path. He developed strategies for regulating his behaviour and dealing with his frustration. His language (which had been quite limited) blossomed.

12mths on we are just about at the end of our therapy sessions. And he is a such sweet helpful little boy. Maybe he would of come good on his own. I don't know, and it was a big time commitment because in addition to the 1 hr session each week there was daily homework that I needed to do with him. At one point we did the Wilbarger brushing technique which had to be done every 2hrs while he was awake for 3 whole weeks! Insane. But the results were seriously incredible. Maybe investigate OT and get her assessed. Can't hurt.

[Hobbermittens]

Matildamai, Thanks for that suggestion. That had never occurred to me! She is very social, and her language is good, but I know that doesn't rule out things... I wonder if she might have some sort of disorder?? I will talk to our doctor.

[atomic sagebrush]

My DS 3 is HORRIBLE. I love him but he's like a little monster. He has been like this since birth. He cried for 3 hours in the hospital because he was POed that my milk wasn't in yet and the colostrum just wasn't good enough for him. Strangers would come up to him in the grocery store when he was 2 months old and he would GLARE at them!!! o.O

Plus, he is one of those kids that goes until he's comatose so there's never any lull and he's really hard to get to sleep.

I rem. the last half of the "ones" were quite bad with him. He is better now - not perfect but time did really help. At least he's not into everything like he used to be - he's still kind of an antisocial little stinker but I can leave him alone for 2 minutes!! He has a lot of good characteristics that balance it all out - very driven and has a really long attention span, and likes doing things "all by himself".

DS 4 is at the same stage (just turned 2) and he is driving me nuts too because he constantly opens up the fridge, flushes the toilet, etc. He has a sunnier disposition tho so it doesn't seem as hard to bear.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh and it is DEF. better in the spring when he can go outside - I think some kids just need to be outside where they can destroy as much as they want LOL.

[zanacal]

It's only now that I have a chilled out DS3 that I see how bonkers DS1 and DS2 were - DS1 especially! He still can't sit still for toffee - even if he's reading a book or playing his DS he's walking round in circles the whole time. He can't sit down while he's eating (I've had better luck getting him to stand up and eat!) and talks non-stop. It's just his personality though and he's so loving and intelligent and sensitive - but yes, the earlier years were very ... challenging!!

[Hobbermittens]

Atomic, isn't your DS3 an Aries?? So is DD2. I think I remember that you mentioned something about his birthday last year--it was near DD2's--March 24) I thought that was to blame for her strong will, etc.

Zana, at least you didn't know any better when your DS was little, and didn't notice how busy he was until you had a mellow one!

What Matildamai said about her son having a sensory disorder made me think. I contacted a friend who has an autistic son, and asked about the OT she uses. WHen I told her it was to get DD2 evaluated, she said she had been wondering about that with my DD. So she noticed something.

I am calling the doctor tomorrow to get a referral.