Yikes - sounds like you really did have a bad day and earned your paycheque today. (hugs)

She is too small for circle time. One year olds might come and see what is happening and then leave and then come back again but they don;'t have the span to sit through it.

Also...she likes the reaction she gets from you when you say "No ---". I also had a 1 year old start and she kept going for the outlet covers. She would reach a finger for it and know I was going to shake my head and say no....so she would do it and then shake her head with a smile mimicking the reaction she knew was coming. She also grinned the whole time so I could see it was a game for her and she was trying to engage me.

Picking her up and putting her somewhere else and redirecting worked. This is the age where they think dropping something and seeing you pick it up is fun and peek-a-boo. She just doesn't get that the reaction she is getting from you is not positive. She is just happy to have the power of getting a response and chances are that if she is touching all the unsafe stuff she is getting a pretty good reaction from you in terms of the pitch in your voice etc. It is very exciting in her little world.

The only way to deal with it is to keep saying no, redirecting and after a few days she will get tired of it.

The other issue with starting a baby is often that the older kids regress. Suddenly they are torn between being big kids and realizing that they don;t get away with the same behaviour anymore as the baby and regress and act more baby-like. Getting the kids involved in taking care of the baby sometimes helps.

Just be firm and don't let your son get out of routines that he had before. Let him know that expectations are still the same as they have always been in terms of him eating, sleeping, playing etc.