u/rumade

My son is 22 months and pretty high energy. I'm a SAHM, owing to a variety of factors including moving abroad when he was 6 months old, and now being pregnant with our second.

My issue is, I'm getting NOTHING done in the day, because the only time my son will play independently with toys is if I'm sat on the sofa scrolling on my phone. Any other activity, he tries to insert himself, touches dangerous objects, and generally makes the task impossible. I don't have a barrier or play pen that can hold him, and it's not really an option in our flat with the space we have. The kitchen has a baby gate, but that's it.

I have made money from artwork in the past but can't do anything while he's awake. Drawing? He will come and snatch the pencil. Sewing on the machine? He stands on the pedal or leans in and presses the machine buttons. Trying to cut out fabric? He will jump on it, pull it, cause problems.

If I try to exercise, he stands on the mat and gets in the way, swinging smaller dumbells around, which is dangerous as well as frustrating.

I can't even do desk based tasks like writing in a journal, using my laptop, or trying to do language study as again, he will try to grab tools, press laptop buttons, or just beg to be on my lap (from where he will then do that)

He is not interested in parallel play with similar objects, for example, if I am drawing or writing and put out crayons and paper for him, he won't touch it unless I'm drawing on his paper or he's on mine. I take him to the park regularly and we spend time together at home reading and playing every day.

How can I get him to go and play with his toys so I can have some time for these tasks? At the moment I feel like I'm pissing away every day waiting for him to nap. I want to work on personal development but it feels impossible. I'm so bored that I'm losing the plot.

I took some video when I first started my allotment, and some more on the solstice. It's so cool to see the contrast between the bare earth and my crops! Two days after June filming, I dug up my potatoes and did a big weeding session. My biggest mistake was transplanting sweetcorn instead of direct sowing and thinning smaller plants.

Not sure how much I'm going to be able to achieve through the summer as I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy so will struggle with the heat, but at the end of summer I'll plant some daikon and other winter crops.

I need some advice because this situation is winding me up. Son is 20 months. I have been putting him on the potty for poos since about a year old, and about 90% of poos end up fully or mostly there.

We started doing pee training about a month ago, and also got steps with seat for the toilet. At first, it was going well. I would put him on either a few times a day, and praise him if he peed. Then last week, he started doing this annoying thing where he was asking to go super frequently. He would pee, and then 10 minutes later ask to go again, and force out a small amount of pee again.

He indicates he needs to go by making a noise and patting the front of his nappy.

Since yesterday, he has been driving me crazy. He keeps saying he needs to go, I take him to the toilet, pull down his trousers and nappy, help him onto the seat... and then he doesn't go. He almost immediately asks for help to get down, and then runs giggling to his bedroom. He has been doing this in clusters all through today where literally every 5 minutes he will ask to go, and then not go.

I think he is just doing it for attention. "Wow! I can make mummy stop reading or doing whatever task she's doing and pay attention to me!" He acts really insistent and desperate in tone when he asks to go.

I tried leaving him nappy free so he could sit on the potty independently, and he pissed on the sofa.

It is possible that he's constipated as he's started this fun new phase called "all I want to eat is white rice".

How do I make this stop?

As someone who doesn't react well to wheat, I loooove rice noodles. Other than pho, which I've had from a few decent places in Kichijoji, I haven't had any rice noodles since moving here last year.

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Does anyone have any recommendations? I especially love the chewy Guilin noodles- Guilin mifen; or the flat pan fried type- chow ho fun.

I got pregnant the weekend I ran a half marathon in March, and other than walking/short bike rides, I've barely moved since. I have this problem that when I achieve something, I go "and that's that conquered!" instead of building on my efforts.

Last pregnancy, I lived in an apartment block with a fitness space and was able to work out pretty frequently. Obviously before my half marathon I was training, and in the last year I've worked out for 30+ minutes 3 times a week while my son eats breakfast, but this technique doesn't work anymore as he's much faster at eating these days and will just scream at me from his high chair. If he's unrestrained during a workout he will come and get in the way. I tried working out at the weekend once and my husband did such a crap job of keeping track of him that he got whacked in the face with a dumbell :(

Is it worth just doing 10 minutes here and there when I can? For example if it gets to 21:30, son is asleep, chores are done, and I get down on the mat for some core work or dumbells. Will that help me stay strong, or am I delusional?