Kiddo Krafts and Saving Mama's Sanity

Toddlers.

They suck.

The End.

How many mama's could write that book? These little pint sized dictators with their emotional roller coasters are exhausting. Perfectly fine one minute, then the world ends for twenty minutes, then they become a super cuddle bug and back to perfectly normal.

This was our house 5 times the other day. Yes, we had FIVE horrible, hysterical, manic, full blown meltdown tantrums. Three within the first 2 hours of the morning. I tried being nice. I tried being stern. I tried being strict, I tried ignoring. I tried everything I could think of to keep my sanity. It didn't work. By 3pm, both Booger and I were absolutely exhausted. And then she had one more.

We used to do time outs, but those have become super stressful for both her and I. We've tried 'time in's' but those usually end up with me being punched or scratched as she tries to escape, which becomes more stressful for her. We've tried quiet time in her room until she calms down, but that ends with multiple escape attempts, sometimes trashing her room, and usually prolongs the tantrum a bit until she is done. 


I've tried connecting the dots-- when does she have meltdowns? Is it because of something that happens, or at a certain time of day? I've found that most of them happen around the time she is getting hungry-- snack times, meal times, a while after a meal she didn't fully eat. If she doesn't end up eating all her breakfast, I know we'll have some tantrums that morning. Sometimes the first tantrum starts with me asking her to finish her breakfast...

So anyway, moving onto the Kiddo Kraft-- one item I've been thinking about using for a while is a Sensory Bottle. A DIY item where she can sit quietly and watch the glitter fall in order to get herself to calm down.

I'm hoping to make a couple of these bottles-- at least one to keep downstairs and one to keep upstairs. That way we can sit and offer the bottle when she gets crazy. Hopefully this solution will work for more than two days..

Materials:

** empty bottle (plastic water bottle, etc)
** glitter glue in your choice of color
** extra glitter
** water
** optional: small toys (legos, figurines, etc) to watch moving around the bottle

1. Empty, wash, and dry the bottle.

2. Pour glitter into the bottom (if you have multiple types, it makes for more to watch)

3. Squeeze glitter glue into bottle (tip: let the littles squeeze a bit, then take the cap off and do the rest yourself. We used about 1/2 bottle of glue for each bottle)

4. Fill almost to top (leave a bit for combining) with warm water
5. Add toys (optional)
6. Hot glue cap onto bottle
7. Shake, shake, shake, shake! It'll take a bit for it to all combine.

The more glitter glue you use, the longer it'll take to reach the bottom. My plan is to let her use the bottle until she feels calm, but you could tell a kiddo that time out is as long as it takes for the glitter to settle.