I don't know if this belongs under behavior or under multiples. I really don't think this would be an issue if they weren't so close in age. Anyway. They're climbing everything. Dining chairs we can remove from the room. The couch only has a couple spots where they can fall directly onto the tile, so that's not even the biggest deal, although it's challenging to spot both of them at once. The worst is the twin bed we have in their room. They can climb it and then they get wild and bounce around and inevitable someone falls off. And even worse, someone bangs a head on the wood frame. None of these are life threatening injuries and my tendency is to let kids learn to be careful by falling a bit, but this is a little too much even for me. Especially because every bruise has to be reported. Suggestions? They both know how to get down backwards, but they feed off of each other and get wild and that's when they fall. We've tried asking/making them sit while on the couch or bed but so far that's not sinking in. They're 16m and 18m.
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You basically have to say "no jumping on the couch/bed/chair" a million times and pick them up. Distraction is a big helper. So I guess it's more like, "no jumping on x, hey look at this great toy you love."
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I'm having a similar issue with my 16.5 month old and the 17 month old I take care of. They get crazy together and are climbing like monkeys. I have pillows and blankets all over the couch so they can't climb it in the day because they have both fallen off. It doesn't help much, but gives me time to get to the couch before they pull them off and climb up. But I don't know what other options you have besides making stuff as safe as possible and saying no and redirecting like @ShootingStar: suggested.
Also, for the bed, if it has posts you could cut tennis balls and put those on them and then I would slice pool noodles lengthwise and slot them on the edges and possibly tape or tie in place or wrap towels or blankets around the frame if possible.
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Am I remembering correctly that you are not allowed to use floor beds? Because if you are, I'd just ditch the frame. If not I'm afraid you're stuck with a correct, redirect loop for a few months.
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It took a lot of repetition, redirection, and a few scary falls before it started getting better. DD just loved to climb, jump, try to step from the sofa to the coffee table, and act like a monkey. I think the biggest help was when she got a mini indoor trampoline - it gave her something that was designed for jumping.
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@ShootingStar: Yeah, we will keep that up. Luckily the weather is improving so we can spend more time outside. That's the best distraction.
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I don't know how many times a day I tell my 17 month old to "get down." There are things she's allowed to climb (couch, chairs, her slide), but she likes to take yet further and scale her play kitchen, get on the dining room table, and onto the kitchen counters. She got in trouble at school today for using toys to climb into the windowsills.
She's a handful. Do you have room for a Little Tykes slide inside your house? I redirect my DD to that quite a bit and it does keep her happy. She climbs up it and uses the ladder. Also I block off the dining room and kitchen unless I'm in there with her.
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@Mrs. Goose: Good idea about padding the frame. That would at least minimize bruises!
@MrsSRS: Well I'm pretty sure they can't have floor beds as their beds, but I'd imagine as long as we don't have any foster kiddos sleeping in the bed, they wouldn't care if it was in the room. We might have to do that until they learn to be more careful. Right now the frame is needed to block some cords/outlets but now that they can climb it we need a new solution for that anyway.
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@catgirl: at what age did you start using the indoor trampoline? I can see this helping, but I'm also afraid of the two of them getting on it and knocking heads or knocking each other off!
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@Mrs. Turtle: She got it just for her second birthday but used one at a friends starting around 20 months. I do imagine it would be harder to manage with two littles though!
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@Mrs. Pickle: Yeah. That's our two. We have baby gates everywhere so they are usually contained to the living room or bedroom. Otherwise they'd be climbing more stuff. They both use toys to get on things. It's really fun when they use something like a big rubber ball and then it slips out from underneath them. I thought about letting them climb the dining chairs but O likes to climb up and then let go and "dance." She thinks everything is a stage. This causes falls a lot. Funny, as I'm sitting here writing this this happened:
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@Mrs. Pickle: We already have a slide...it helps but now they're more interested in the bed. And the slide has been the source of some big falls too when they push each other off.
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@catgirl: EVERYTHING is harder managing two littles!
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@Mrs. Turtle: I wish I had some better ideas for you. On a different note they look like BFFs! The phrase "double trouble" comes to mind.
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@Mrs. Pickle: They are. At this point much of their behavior reminds me of twins. They ask about each other before they talk about anyone else and they both seem kind of lost without the other one. They also pull each other's hair and hit and bite, so it's not all hearts and rainbows! They're mostly very sweet together though and it will be extremely hard if they end up separated.
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My kiddo is 18 months and I nanny for another 18 month old. So much climbing. So many falls. You have my sympathies trying to keep them safe all the time, I'm struggling with just 4 days a week.
What I'm trying to do is allow the girls to climb, but not roughhouse or be unsafe once they're up there. They are allowed to stand on couches, but not wrestle on them. Stand and walk around a bed, but not rough house. Climb a chair but not stand on it. Absolutely no trying to push or pull each other off of whatever they're climbing on.
Once they make an unsafe choice, I ask them calmly to stop/sit down/be gentle/be careful, and if they don't listen, I move them back to the floor. I feel like I spend the entire day doing this. But they are learning, slowly, and there have been less falls lately.
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@LindsayLou: Sounds like our house! I actually think our 18 month old would be fine on his own. He's much better about listening. So maybe we just need to give the 16 month old a couple of months to catch up and it will get better. This is just like when they were starting to walk!
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@Mrs. Turtle: I think you're right that the listening is very age/maturity dependent. My girl is slightly older, and a bit less impulsive, than the girl I nanny for, and my kiddo is a much better listener. On the plus side, I've noticed that when one girl starts listening better about certain things, the other girl picks it up. I bet your little one will catch up soon!
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I have no idea but just want to tell you that they are really cute!! I want one!
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@Mrs. Turtle: My 12 month old is already using the indoor trampoline so I think yours would be fine. My guys can share it but B is 3 and so a bit more careful (sometimes).
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@Mrs. Turtle: just chiming in on the mini trampoline- we have one for my 3 year old that my almost 15 month old likes to bounce on too. I feel like I spend half my day navigating them both trying to use t at once. Mostly the problem is the big one wanting to do really big jumps which would be dangerous with the baby on there, so maybe with just two the same age they would be better. But yeah I have issues with the climbing too. She wants nothing more than to stand on the little chairs that go with the kid table but I'm afraid she will topple them.
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No ideas but we have the same problem - 18m boy here. Loves to climb, get into dangerous stuff, etc. I just continually remove him (I can't let you climb on the coffee table, repeat repeat, etc) and just watch him like a hawk! I cannot get a single thing done unless he's sleeping or someone else is watching him, because I literally don't feel like I can let him out of my sight for 5 seconds!
The hard part is now (especially in the last month) he has gotten way more opinionated and strong-willed about what he wants to do. And he gets very hyper-focused so it's harder to distract him. AND he gets way more upset when I stop him from doing something he wants to do. Lots of crying, limp noodlingon the floor and yelling "NOOOOO!" Ugggh. For example - he wants to walk down the stairs on his own with us not holding onto his hand or touching him. But he can't do it yet, he would fall. And if I try to hold onto him, he freaks out.
She's a handful. 
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