Preparing Little Man A

At my 36 week check-up last week, my doctor recommended getting Little Man A a baby doll. She recommended this more as a distraction for when I have to take care of the new kid. She found with her own children, that the added "responsibility" of having a baby doll to care for helped when she needed to tend to her new baby. Just by Little Man having his own baby doll to change the diaper or feed, will help with him adjusting to getting less attention (although I'm sure that's not going to be the case with the houseful that we will have once the new kid arrives).

Let me tell you, hubby is not all too thrilled with the idea of Little Man playing with a doll. So instead of buying one ourselves, which would make it a more permanent fixture in the house, I enlisted the help of a friend with a daughter. Both of which were more than happy to help.

So yesterday, when we came home from playing at the park, we found a baby doll at our doorstep. Because it was coming from a friend, I think Little Man was even more excited about it. As soon as I took the baby doll out of the bag, he was hooked like glue.




He sat down with the baby doll, patted his head, and began to speak softly to it. He was fascinated with the fact that his toes and fingers were stuck together. He absolutely loves giving the baby doll the bottle of milk (probably more because it disappears when you tip it up and then come back magically). The only thing that bothers him about the baby doll is that its eyes close when you lay it down. Next thing I know, LMA is prying open it's eyes. I just hope he doesn't do that to his baby brother when he's asleep.

But all in all, I think it was a good suggestion and move to get a baby doll (or at least borrow one). I'm sure it'll just be a novelty item over the next few days and will quickly fade away. But let's hope this is good preparation for when baby brother comes along.

To wait or not to wait

Hubby and I have been going back and forth lately about when to put Little Man into a "Big Boy Bed". Although he hasn't been trying to get out of his bed, except the one time that he teetered a little over the railing but scared himself so much he never did it again, we know the time will come sooner or later. Especially with a second one on the way, we wanted to make sure that Little Man was transitioned prior to the new arrival so we didn't have a newborn and a toddler to fight with at night.

I have to admit, I was extremely hesitant about it. You hear horror stories from other parents of their children waking them up at all hours of the night because they have free range once the lights go out. I don't want that, no matter if I have only one to worry about or two.

We did our research and read that some people, especially if the child likes their bed and have no issues with climbing out, stay in their crib until three years of age. I also read that with some children it can be a huge transition, one that seems exciting at first, but then really scary once the lights go out and Mommy and Daddy go to bed. I knew I wanted to take it slow, but I wasn't sure if it was because Little Man wasn't ready or Mommy wasn't ready.

Lately, Little Man has been asking us to read his books while he sits in his bed. Although it's a great way to end the night because he's already in bed once we say no more books, our arms kind of get tired of reaching over the railings to read him his books. We started looking into all of our options, like a Toddler bed vs. a full size bed with a railing or trying to use his current crib without the front railing. IKEA also has a great option of an extendable bed, going from a toddler bed to a full size bed in one. Since money is a little tight right now, and we want to hold out for the IKEA extendable bed option, we opted for the less expensive option right now. We removed the front of his crib to make it into a day bed, then add a $20 bed railing to prevent him from falling out. My only concern was that we couldn't lower the bottom of the bed any closer to the ground, but 14 inches really isn't that far to tumble compared to Mommy and Daddy's bed. And besides, there is only 6 inches or so on either side of the bed railing for him to fall out from.

To our surprise, he loved it! He was so excited to have a "new" big boy bed!



That night, Daddy tried reading to him while sitting in his bed, too. Little Man had a different idea though. He still wanted the bed railing up. So unfortunately, our arms still get a little tired from hanging over the railing, but at least it's not as high as his crib used to be.


And to our delight, the first night was a dream! We made sure to tell him that only Mommy and Daddy can take him out of the bed, since he really wanted to climb on the railing when it was down. He was asleep within 15 minutes and didn't even mess with the railing. And on top of that, he slept until 8am! Wahoo!

Then, double bonus, no problems during nap time either. And I was nervous why? I'll shut up before I jinx myself.

He's going to be a great big brother

Little Man is going through a phase where when he does something, like complete his firetruck puzzle, he has to show the world. Or just when he wants to share something, like a special book, he has to include everyone.

Including his toys. On this particular day, he wanted to show Lion his fishies.




He's going to be a great big brother.