Jules

Well I wish I had some good advice for you on the screaming, but my LO has been a screamer for about 4 months and so far I haven't been able to break it. GRrrr, my ears hurt, LOL. When I am cooking dinner I do find that if I put her in her highchair where she can see me I can give her a cracker or a bowl and a spoon and she will hang out a little more contently. She can see me and talk to me, but she isn't under my feet in the kitchen. So maybe that will help. We have always called late afternoon/early evening (around 4 or 5 pm) the witching hour. Seems like that is the time of the day when they are hungry and tired and don't know what to do with themselves. After dinner things are usually better, before is just a bad time of the day for LO's it seems.

And as for getting into stuff I use baby gates. You can also get a guard for the front of the TV if he is pushing buttons and such. check babies r us or someplace similar. Sometimes I will put my DD in her Highchair w/ a toy if she keeps getting into the same thing. It doesn't have to be long, but if I am trying to get something done and she keeps getting into something I can put her upthere w/ something to play with and after a few minutes they usually forget what they were getting into and you can let them loose again. It is kind of like a time out, w/o the punishment aspect, if that makes any sense.

Take it from a mom of 3, you just have to figure out what you can live with. Not saying that the kids should run wild, just what battles do you want to fight and which do you just let go of.