A couple weeks ago, I asked for advice on helping Kate adjust to having a sibling. Here, on Facebook, and via email, you all shared some great tips that I'll have to remember! The most insightful, I think, was making sure that I'm not holding the baby when Kate comes to see us at the hospital. To make sure she doesn't feel usurped, my lap should be free and ready to hold her right away.
Today I want to ask more about the practical side of parenting two kids.
What tips do you have for everyday life with two small kids?
I'm thinking of things like:
how to get everybody ready and out the door before work/school or church,
how to keep Kate in check (in parking lots, etc.) when my hands are full with an infant
what ways Kate can help out without being a danger to the baby
... and plenty of things I can't even think of right now.
I'm sure that, as with the first, you figure things out as you go until you can't even remember what life was like before, but I'd love to have a few tricks from the old pros in my pocket!
3 comments:
The one thing that comes to mind right now is try to do as much as you can before you go to bed to get ready for the next day ie: lay out clothes, fix lunches, etc. And always get yourself ready first in the morning. If you don't, you will never be able to finish getting ready!
On the question of ways Kate can help out without being a danger to the baby, I read a really good idea the other day and sort of filed it away under "when we have two."
Have Kate be your "Baby Police" where her job is to ask visitors to wash their hands and pass out hand sanitizer. It can be her special job to keep the new baby healthy and to be the special greeter with a job at the door when visitors come.
I also read another tip I will throw out there...when you are nursing the new baby make that a special time. Rather than your time exclusively with the new baby you can make it special by having it be story time where Kate holds the book and you read to her or you get to watch an episode of her favorite show together. That way she doesn't feel neglected or in competition when you are trying to nurse your new little one.
I agree wholeheartedly with the comments above (especially getting as much ready the night before as possible!).
As for the parking lots, I always get Addie out of the car first and walk her over to Landon's side. When he was in the carrier, I would tell her that her "job" was to touch the carrier the whole time we walked to wherever we were going. When he got big enough to carry on my hip (but not big enough to walk), she had to hold my hand or some part of my clothing.
She liked that it was a "game" when she was a little younger, and of course, it just moved into her knowing she has to do that for safety's sake. Kate is such a smarty, she'll do great!
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