My Oversized Two Year Old

you could try to reverse the door of his room so that the door locks from the outside, not the inside. That has worked like a charm for me, to contain my daughter at night.

I know it won't look very nice but you could put up a screen door instead of the baby gate and keep it locked from the outside of his room. That way he can see out and you can peek in and he can be heard better than through a regular closed door. I know it might sound pretty horrible but it worked for them and she didn't get into other parts of the house while they were sleeping.

HI K.,

I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU, BUT YOU MIGHT TRIED ONE OF THOSE DOORS THAT THE TOP HALF OPENS, BUT THE BOTTOM YOU CAN SHUT AND LOCK FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT YOU STILL CAN SEE THROUGH THE TOP PART AND KEEP A EYE ON HIM.THAT MIGHT WORK IN KEEPING HIM IN THE ROOM, SO U DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HIM GETTING OUT, A FRIEND OF MY DID AND IT WORK FOR HER. THIS WAY YOU CAN STILL HEAR HIM AND SEE HIM.

K.

K.,
My friend has an inquizative child like yours! At age 2, her son got outside when everyone else was sleeping & was found by a neighbor walking around the neighborhood (very dangerous). The only way she was able to contain him is to lock his door at night (make sure the opening lock part is on the outside otherwise the child will get out). They also put alarms on all the doors so if he did manage to get out somehow, the alarm woke them up. This way he was contained in his room, but still safe. She bolted everything to the walls to prevent it from being tipped over. They had tried other methods & nothing else worked. I know this way seems mean & even a possible fire hazzard, but it is preferrable to a child getting into the knife drawer or other dangerous things.
You should also try to find ways to curb this powerful little boys reactions to life. As he gets bigger, it will be even more important for him to have productive & safe outlets for all his energy & frustration. My only suggestion is a play gym or other structured physical type activities. Try to give him choices wherever you can, so he feels more control over his environment & life. It can be something as simple as carrots or green beans, apple or orange juice, choosing an activity to do next or what book to read. I have heard the terrible 2's can be a big challenge, but not sure if this is the phase or his personality. Maybe ask your pediatrician for any suggestions as well. They should know if this is just part of a phase or if it is his personality & needs other ways to curb his curiosity/destructive maner. Hope this helps. Good luck. -S.-

K.~ Try setting up a 'pop-up' tent in his room. We did that w/my son and he loved it!!! He was one that his room was double-gated and he scaled them and ran the house at night, at about 2 - 2 1/2. Once we set up the tent (which took up most of his room) he thought of it as camping in his own little space. We squeezed his twin mattress inside the tent so he wasn't just on the floor.

Since you have a toodler mattress maybe one of those easy fold playhouses would work, as well. Good luck!
T.

Sounds like you may have more issues than you think. I work with children and you may have the makings of a child with behavorial problems. Just keep an eye on him. Those are unusual behaviors.

Have you considered buying and installing a full-size screen door on his bedroom? If you put it in 'backwards', you can lock it from the outside. I'd also consider moving his toys out of his room (or locking them in his closet but for a few stuffed animals) so he doesn't use any of them to help destroy the screen. Try getting one with the non-screen, metal bottom half like people get for their dogs.

What does your pediatrician say about his size? Normal? Have you had him checked for any abnormalities in his pituatary gland (sp) or anything? Does he seem to be raging or just playing?

Whatever you do, don't leave him alone with the new baby!!!

Your son sounds a little like mine. We have to stack two gates up so he cannot climb over them. My son will be 3 on friday and is strong for his age. He is 45 lbs and is two inches shorter than my 4 year old. People always ask if they are twins and its hard to them to beleive he is 18 months younger than she is. He has been disgnoised with Destructive Desturbance behavior and sypmtoms of ADHD. He is very violent and with his strength he is constantly hurting my 4 year old.

I would take him to the developmental unit of your local childrens hospital and have him evaulted. If he does have behavoral problems they will be able to help you find a way to deal with them. The younger you can get help the better. He is just going to continue growing and getting stronger. I would not wait until he gets into school. Try to get help now. I had to fight my way to help becuase his pedicatrain would tell me he is on the extreme end of normal but normal but I knew in my heart there was somethign wrong. Trust your instinct. Do not let anyone tell you well he is just a boy becuase thats no excuse. Yeah boys maybe tougher and more rough than girls but they are also the ones who are at risk for behavoral problems and developmental issues. If you ever need to talk or vent with something. I am only a message away. I know you have your hands full with with a 3 yr old, your son and a newborn daughter. I have been there with just two children I couldnt imagen what having three young children are like. Good Luck

K.,

While I don't think it would hurt to check with your pediatrician regarding your son's growth and strength, don't worry yourself sick about it, either. My son, who is five, has always been big for his age--not overweight, just BIG. He's always been at the very highest end of the height and weight charts for his age. He was incredibly precocious (sp?) and I had to be super careful about "toddlerproofing" his room. I did stack baby gates, but you have to be careful to make sure he can't stand on top of one gate and press with all his weight on the top one--bad falls can result. Luckily, Jonathan never figured that trick out, but it did happen to a friend of mine. I really like the idea of the half doors that only open at the top--I wish I'd thought of that when Jonathan was small! Also, you might want to eliminate any furniture your child can climb on (and then jump off of). I ended up using soft boxy bins for his toys, getting a tall chest of drawers that he couldn't climb up on, and getting a flat toddler bed that looked like a racecar (he LOVED sleeping in that and usually stayed in it all night). Good luck with you little boy...I remember how exhasperating it can be, but the climbing stage does pass (or at least they eventually accquire some common sense!)

Wow! What a flashback I just had while reading your post. I went back to check my son's baby book to be sure, and yes, we have him logged in as 42 pounds at age 2. We were actually asked to remove him from his YMCA nursery school, because he was just kocking kids up against walls. He didn't mean to, but he was so much bigger than the rest, and when he played and ran around, it was like a bowling ball hitting a bunch of pins. You can imagine how the other parents complained! I remember at one point, he thought it would be fun to spit on everyone. I was teaching at the YMCA at the time, and his teacher came to me and asked if I thought it would be o.k. if she put a surgical mask on my son to keep him from spitting. Well, I said, yes, and the boy thought that was a hoot. He poked a hole in the mask right over his mouth, laughed and continued to blow raspberries through the hole. He was a trip!
He did even out in growth, but had another big growth spurt in eighth grade, when he put on 40 pounds and 4 inches in about six months. That size increase came on him so quickly that he just didn't know how to handle it. He broke several windows in our house and a car door simply trying to close them! He just didn't know his own strength! And he even sent a kid to the hospital during a pickup football game. Didn't mean to. Just kind of got a hand up and we all thought the other boy's nose was broken. Luckily, it wasn't.
I can't tell you much about how to contain him. I guess we just muddled through. When he was a toddler, I did put chain locks very high up on all of our outside doors to make sure that he couldn't get out of the house without being noticed. He used to raid the refrigerator, too, and we bought various safety locks for that, but he ripped them all off. We eventually devised a system of locking up the refrigerators and closets with bungee cords. (The kid used to go into the refrigerator and dig his hand into scrapple, scoop it up and eat it that way. Ewwww.)
Be vigilant and creative. Try your best to keep everything out of his reach and use whatever you have to direct his attention to things that will hold his interest in safe areas. I like the tent idea that someone else posted.
And just to let you know, my oversized 2 year old grew into a very well proportioned man, 6' tall and 180 pounds. But he's still pretty powerful for his size!

Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? I don't have any advice about keeping him in his room, but I wanted to reassure you about his size. My son was 40" and 39 lbs at 2. He is a very tall boy. He's never been 'heavy' for his height. But now at almost 7 he is 55 1/2" and 74 lbs. The hard part is that people think he's 9 or 10. I talked to my ped about my concerns about his height and he basically said that he's just tall (I'm 5' 10" and my dh is 6' 2"). He said that generally when there are physical problems related to growth it's when kids hit puberty and all of a sudden start growing and become above average. If they've always been tall, they are just tall.

It might be worth having your son evalutated by a therapist or occupational therapist. At the minimum it will rule any behavior or neurological issues out and maybe it might be of some help as to how to deal with him.

I feel for you. I remember how hard it was just to have such a tall toddler.

Oh my goodness. I have heard of The Incrediable Hulk, but not this of a new two year old. I honestly think that you should buy two gates and stack them. At the Home Depot( not sure of your location) you can purchase the nice white plastic w/ the plexi glass. I purchased one for $30.00.
I am laughing histarically(spelling).

I would definately have your son evaluated by the development unit of children's hospital or a child psycologist. My son was the same way at 1 1/2 and he's only gotten worse. Although he's always been very small for his age he's very strong. Because of his behavior he's had stitches 2 times already and dislocated his finger. We used to have to lock his door at night just to keep him from hurting himself. Once he was evaluated the Early Intervention program sent out an occupational therapist and a behavior specialist to work with him and it really did help. They have lots of wonderful ideas on what to do with his behavior. I also wouldn't leave him alone with the baby. When my son was 2 1/2 he picked up the baby and dropped him on the floor. Thankfully he was so close to the ground the baby wasn't hurt. Also my oldest son was the same size at 2 and he now 7 years 54 inches tall and about 55 lbs. He seems about the same size as the other kids in his 2nd grade class.