I'm told by my experienced mommy friends that those moments (hopefully, not all of them!) are inevitable and that little "emotional outbursts" are a normal part of a toddler's adjustment to having a new sibling in his/her home.
The Realist in me accepts that information as true and is attempting to emotionally brace myself for those moments. But the Dreamer in me secretly hopes to be the one mommy that it doesn't happen to. You know, the one that everyone hates? I think I could handle being hated if it meant that I got to keep my sanity.
Since keeping my sanity is relatively important to me, I've developed what I hope to be a brilliant, successful, fool-proof plan for easing my almost-two-year old into big sisterhood (go ahead, laugh if you want...).
My "plan" includes talking about baby Charlie, showing Avery clothes/items I've bought for baby Charlie, showing her pictures of her friends with their baby siblings, introducing her to the concept of nurturing a baby, and lots of praying, praying, praying. Currently, the biggest hurdle we have to overcome is getting her to say anything other than "no" when we ask her if she wants to have a baby at our house.
I've also decided to keep her room exactly the same and not introduce a big girl bed until life stabilizes again for her. Unfortunately, that means that I have to find another crib pretty soon. I plan to hold off on introducing potty training to her until she is closer to three as well. Unfortunately, THAT means lots of diapers to buy in the next year. HOORAY!!!
I realize that my efforts may end up being in vain, but because I'm heard-headed and a control freak, I've decided to stick with the plan anyway. At least for now...
We've played "baby and mommy" together a lot lately, so I decided to buy a crib at a local consignment sale this week. She has really enjoyed playing with it, but I'm really not sure that her sweet little toddler mind grasps the whole "nurturing" concept. At least I got some really cute pictures.
6 comments:
your blog is so cute. i laughed out loud on your posting about being "that mom." what an exciting time with number two on the way. tell david jason and i said hello.
He is breathtaking. How special to get a glimpse of the joy that you will soon hold in your arms.
I know exactly what you mean! I envisioned Brody taking a blanket and 'accidently' trying to smother Baby Mia. But to my wonderful surprise, he has been awesome! Because she had a rough go of it at first, he would just place his hand on her car seat while she was whaling in the car. Now at 18 months he is really the mighty protector over her. When he hears her crying in her bed he makes sure to come let me know. I'm sure Avery will have the normal jealously adjustments, but she will be a great big sis.
Had to get over last week before I posted a comment. ;-)
Little had a rough time the first few weeks, but has really done remarkably well. I did the whole talk about the baby, let her help with baby stuff, etc; don't know if it really helped, but she is a very good big sister. Our biggest issue now is that she helps too much!
Avery will be a great big sister, just give her some time to adjust.
Being the mom of a single, I don't have any advice on the transition for sweet Avery. However, as Sarah has an iron will, I know that staying with the diapers and going slow on potty training will be a blessing. I think diapers were 19 cents a piece a few months ago, and I would gladly have paid a $1 a piece to keep my sanity. When Sarah turned three she told ME she was ready for big girl panties and the rest is history. She had two accidents after (one was when my nephew was born). As for the crib.....well we just now moved to the big girl bed in April. I just don't like to rush things ;-)
Courtney Page
I've also decided to keep her room exactly the same and not introduce a big girl bed until life stabilizes again for her.
Post a Comment