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How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler

June 26, 2016


Whenever I tell someone that I moved from a suburban 5-bedroom home to a 2-bedroom apartment in one of the busiest city centers in the country, their jaw usually take a minute or two to come off the floor. I agree, it’s a huge shift, but I’m firm with this being an awesome new start for me and my family. 

Los Angeles is known for traffic, but being so close in proximity to nearly everything has its perks; I now walk to the grocery store, to happy hour with girlfriends — I even grabbed towels the morning after our move when I realized we didn’t have any in our new place.

There is one thing that hit me completely out of left field: babyproofing, and not just for safety purposes. 

I understood that we might be at other people’s mercy in terms of noise level, but I never really thought about how Fox could affect our neighbors. He’s not a crier and he generally doesn’t yell as long as he’s free to move about, but there were other hurdles to jump over before we got it right.

Switch to Soft Toys

A great deal of Fox’s toys are wooden, which wasn’t a problem in a carpeted single-family home. Now that he’s in his crazy toddler stage, those wooden toys get thrown, dropped, and banged on the ground, which we can’t have with neighbors downstairs. We now reserve those toys for outings and quiet time on the area rug, while he uses soft toys like this fabric kitchen set when he’s feeling wild. 

How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler - TheFebruaryFox.comCreative Time in the High Chair

Sometimes we need a minute to make dinner or fold laundry, so we put Fox in his high chair with a ballpoint pen and mini-notebook. He has filled up so many notebooks and, at 16 months old, can already draw circles and squares on demand. You can also fill up a Ziploc bag with finger paints, glitter, beads, etc. and Duct tape the edge closed for non-messy sensory fun!

How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler - TheFebruaryFox.comFind a Favorite Interactive Book

Fox’s favorite book by far is called Press Here by Herve Tullet. If you haven’t heard of it, its simple design of red, yellow, and blue circles is paired with simple directions that seem to move the dots on the page as you go along. For instance, turning the book to the left results in all of the dots landing on one page. Although he doesn’t quite understand the directions, he gets the biggest kick out of me saying the colors out loud as he points to each circle, especially when he’s pointing double-time!

How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler - TheFebruaryFox.comBabyproof the Apartment

Trust me on this one. Life will be a million times easier if you make every drawer and cabinet inaccessible for your little one, regardless if the contents are harmful or not. Fox gets far less frustrated when he’s not being told no left and right, he learned after one or two attempts to open locked areas that it’s not going to budge.

How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler - TheFebruaryFox.comGet Outside

When all else fails, get outside! If Fox is acting up we let him run around outside. Whenever he sees the garden, dogs, or the big Hollywood theater signs, he lets out one big “Woooooooow!” right after the other. Letting him burn some energy outside usually results in some quiet time immediately after.

While Fox is in this new phase of toddlerhood, we’ve been using Huggies Little Movers that we pick up from Sam’s Club. It’s important to me that his diapers have the signature Huggies stretchy SnugFit Waistband to keep everything in place while he’s movin’ and groovin’, especially with the improved Leak Lock feature!

How to Survive Apartment Living with a Toddler - TheFebruaryFox.comHuggies Little Movers are available in sizes 3, 4, 5, and 6, and Sam’s Club members will save $3.00 instantly at check out starting June 22nd until July 17th. Also, if you click here and submit a photo of your Little Mover you will have the chance to win a $500 Sam’s Club gift card!

Do you have a tried and true way to tame your toddler? I’d love to hear below in the comments!

 

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1 Comment

  • Reply jonemartin September 2, 2024 at 2:20 am

    Congratulations on your new apartment, I agree with you its difficult to clean the home, do work with a toddler. But I am waiting to read your new blog.

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