Kidding
Who hasn’t forgotten the essentials when you’ve left the house with your child & diaper bag? It’s normal. You’re not alone! Here’s my quick mental checklist for packing a diaper bag for errands and outings. I’ve written on packing for travel (requires much more, duh!), travel with a toddler, and travel with an infant. Do I always bring all these things? Nope. Do I wish I had oftentimes? Yup. Diapers Cover Wipes Changing pad Hand sanitizer Wet bag or whatever you use for your disposables New pants (must must must) New shirt (you never know) New socks (ditto) Small toy that can be lost and forgotten (usually a matchbox car for us) (for a younger baby, a teether or rattle) Happy snack (usually a teething biscuit) Sippy cup for water or other beverage device Two books (to read in the car or to chew on, or whatnot) Allergy meds if you’re child has an allergy (epi pen & benedryl for us) Perhaps a change of tops for you if your child is young and nursing (you never know) For the younger baby, BURP CLOTHS We keep a blanket, emergency first aid kit, bottled water, canned baby food, Luna bars, and car-emergency-stuff in the back of the car as well. You never know!
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As we approach having two children, I contemplate how SuperBoy’s natural inclination toward independence will play out. He will be almost 2 years old by the time his sister arrives. And although he loves to do things on his own, and we encourage him, on the whole, he is accustomed to having assistance with most things. Slowly but surely AA and I have been working on independence in particular areas: feeding himself, picking out his clothing, getting things ready for a diaper change (and putting them away), brushing his teeth, and self-selected play. 1) Feeding himself. He sometimes spends breakfast on my lap, eating his oatmeal & yogurt & fruit combo while we read the paper or a magazine together. Yes, his favorite subscription is Hockey Quarterly (or whatever it’s called that my dad brings over)–he likes to point out all the hockey gear. But he’s just as happy to sit on one of our chairs at the table as well. Occasionally he still eats in his high chair, but that’s more so I can maneuver laundry, chores, and the dogs without him sharing his entree with them (yes, he likes to do this too . . . mostly on their heads). We’ve tried a little person sized table and chair, but one issue I’ve encountered is that some of his plates and bowls don’t have no-skid bottoms so food ends up eluding him. Forks, spoons, cups without tops, finger food, you name it and he likes to explore it.…
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So we’re down to six weeks out, give or take a bit. It’s not a due date, right? It’s a “guess” date. They always say that in Blooma yoga classes (haven’t been? Hello?! prenatal support group, work out, and affirmation session!). And I like that. So instead of saying “I’m due April 16.” I say “I’m due sometime in April. My birthday is the 10th, AA’s is the 3rd, my brother’s is the 21st, so she could come and squash any of our birthdays 🙂 But truly, my beloved readers, how do the logistics of two children work? J is good about (and happy to) play by himself often. He thrives in our Montessori-esque set ups, with access to all sorts of exploratory toys, all his senses involved, etc. But what about when all 30 pounds of him needs to be hauled to time-out? What about when he screams “NO!” when I gently but firmly tell him it’s time to change his poopy diaper. (My sister should be laughing here because I’m certain our perfect goddaughter will be potty-trained by 20 months. See her post on Elimination Communication here :). What about when he needs help eating his soup? Thankfully babies are small, and wearable, and sleepy, and snuggly. Thankfully J is sweet, for the most part, and self-sufficient, as much as he can be at his age (his daddy has this whole teeth-brushing routine down with him that I’ll share later. So cute!). But two children? Any aged…
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People are always so surprised when I tell them (in response to the question, “What’s his favorite show?”) that SuperBoy doesn’t watch TV. Or have any screen time, really, except Skype with relatives out of town. I don’t think we’re that “out there” as parents to not have screen time for our less-than-two year old. Especially in light of the AAP’s serious recommendation of no-screen-time-before-two (see my post on that here). But because he’s not accustomed to being entertained by something, most of his activities are self-driven. He loves to pounce upon a pile of blocks, books, cars, and start sorting, or just wading through them. He directs his own play, instead of being a passive participant in it. (I’m not judging parents who do screen time; I’m passionate about ensuring parents make the most informed and best decision they can for their family lifestyle.) Does my child perfectly self-entertain while I do all the other things that parents need to do around a house? No way! I wish! But I will say that introducing books early has been my saving grace. Even if he doesn’t want to read by himself, he loves to read aloud to me. At almost 20 months, he’ll plop down in a chair in the kitchen and read to me so I can be at a hot stove, wash sharp knives, or blow my nose without his assistance. Sometimes the entire story is “mama, dada, baba, nunu (my mom’s name), NINA! (his beloved Great Dane).” 1)…
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I’ll admit, when I first heard there was anything controversial about vaccines for infants and toddlers, I was surprised. Why wouldn’t everyone want their child immunized from such terrible things as polio, measles, chicken pox? I remember having the chicken pox as a little girl (the same day I came home from the doctor with the diagnosis, my little brother informed me that my imaginary best friend “Ben” was now his best friend. How can you forget a double-whammy like that?) and that it was quite unpleasant. The more I’ve read, and the more people I’ve talked with, the better I understand the vaccine debate. For many children, there’s no fall-out from vaccination, but for a small group, there can be serious reactions, or even life-changing or life-threatening ones. Mothering Magazine just began a forum for discussing vaccines, pros, cons, and the extended schedule. Check that out here. There are other great resources out there too, like the Vaccine Pro/Con website. And a plethora of very partisan blogs and websites. And then there’s the pervasive Autism-Vaccine concern. Huffington Post had a great article up last year by David Kirby that discussed why the concern over the link between the two hasn’t yet gone away. Most pediatricians are pro-vaccine on the regular schedule as recommended, a few are not. Most parents have an opinion one way or the other. We chose to vaccinate J on the regular schedule, with the exception of Hep B as a newborn. He just began…
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Molly W, who’s guest posted before on Pregnancy Fitness, joins us again with her thoughts on elimination communication, the training system for young babies and early toddlers to learn to signal their bathroom needs. Her daughter, V, is a little over 5 months old and they are glad they’re trying it out! What is Elimination Communication? I’ll admit it. I had to google it after I first heard of it from a friend who’s postpartum doula. I imagined an idyllic world where naked babies were the norm and poopy diapers a thing of the (more barbaric) past. I was already mentally accepting congratulations for having potty trained our daughter V by one year. After 5 months of EC’ing our baby V, we aren’t quite living that dream, but we get closer every day. As Diaper Free Baby will tell you, EC is not potty training. It’s parent training. Basically, as a parent or care giver, you watch your little ones signs closely and begin to predict when they are going to eliminate. Then you hold them above a receptacle (sink mostly in our case now that she has good head control) (or little bucket as pictured above) and make cueing sounds. Pssst for pee, little grunts for poo. Why these sounds other than the fact they are hilarious? Because they are easy for your baby to associate with the two kinds of elimination. The theory is that eventually, as your baby becomes more self aware and improves their sphincter control,…
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