How to keep a toddler busy so as not to squeeze the piggies

[natsmom26]

My almost 3 year old LOVES her piggies. She loves to hold them (closely monitored) and feed them grass. However, after a while both get restless...........the piggies want to run around, and she gets tired of sitting still. I found a new way to keep them occupied. The piggies got to run around, and I gave my daughter a large spoon and a sandwich bag. Her job (which she took very seriously) was to clean up all the poops. I was surprised at how much she enjoyed this. The only problem is that now she stands in front of their cage yelling, "Mommy, there's a poop. Mommy, they pooped!" LOL

 

[rsgymjam]

Aww! How cute!!!

 

[pinky]

That reminds me of something that happened when my daughter was around 2. We lived in a townhouse at the time that had a small, fenced in yard. I was busy doing something else and when I looked back, she had a large "spoon" (small hand shovel that I used to pick up cat crap) in her mouth. I almost had a heart attack.

 

[Skinny Wilbur]

That's one way to keep the cage clean!

 

[kyneO]

that's awesome! we only recently got guinea pigs and now my son does a similar thing. it started w the whisk broom clean up, and now he gets to vacuum after floor time- but he is 3 1/2, and he does the similar thing now he can't wait to vacuum up a poop. he doesn't let me unplug the vacuum the whole time they are out ( for hours at a time) and he spot cleans up after them alot. he thinks it is so much fun. he likes to check all the corners and little nooks where the pigs like to relax. (i put down newspaper and pillowcases in those areas) now to see if they need to be tidied. it is pretty amusing and i dont think the piggies mind much.

 

[pinky]

@pinky, I can imagine what when through your head when you saw your daughter. Isn't it amazing what kids will put into their mouths. One of my bosses had a rabbit at the same time his daughter was a toddler. When the rabbit was playing out of the cage they had to constantly be on guard because she would eat the rabbit poop. Although, I personally think I'd prefer rabbit poop to cat poop.hmy:

I don't think I could choose one over the other. ha ha... I called the pediatrician right after she did that.

 

[natsmom26]

I'm lucky that the poop is one of the few things that my girl won't put in her mouth. However, I did have to warn daycare that if she crawls around, squeaking, and eating grass, she's just being a guinea pig.