The "Things I Wish I Had Known With the First Baby" edition.
1. When trying to diaper a wiggly toddler, pretend to sneeze. The sillier the sneeze, the better. Try alternating long with short, high with low, etc. Houdini himself would pause long enough for me to get a diaper on him with some of the sneezes I can now perform. (How's THAT for an under appreciated talent!)
2. Find something you like to do that the little one(s) like to do and do a lot of it. For me this was blowing bubbles and baking. And science experiments. TV does not count.
3. Only have married someone willing to get up with a baby at night. I guess you needed to know that sooner than the first baby. Fortunately, I discovered that the Emperor is a prince among men... Well, he's not called "The Emperor" for nothing!
4. Kids make your life not about you. Yeah, it hurts, but the sooner you figure out that this is a GOOD thing, the happier you will be. Speaking of which, you can give your kids the moon and not be a good mom if you are giving them a bad example of how loving people relate to each other. Having the energy to smile at your husband is worth more than having the house and kids the way you want them.
5. Memorize 5 fingerplays (The Itsy Bitsy Spider, 6 Little Ducks, 5 Little Monkeys, etc.). The 10 minutes this will take will be rewarded during the hours and hours of standing in line you will do when your child is between 4 months and 4 years old. Your child will be happy, the people in line with you will be amused, and the checkout person will tell you how sweet and well behaved your kids are. And you will only feel like a doofus for the first few months you do it.
6. Having lots of kids doesn't make you an expert. You figure out how things work for you and you just keep doing it. At least until you hit a kid that needs something different! It doesn't mean that you're doing it the best way, just cause you did it with 6 kids. Come to think of it: THERE IS NO BEST WAY TO PARENT! We should all have this tattooed onto our foreheads (backwards, so we can read it in the mirror) before we leave the hospital . There may be a best way for YOU to parent, but everyone will be much happier if you don't make your way the gold standard of good parenting. (OK, I guess the exception would be "parenting with love" or something similarly so general as to be unhelpful in the actual details).
7. Bearing that in mind, hang out with people who have more kids than you do. I must admit, I am finding this more difficult as time goes on. Best case scenario, you pick up ideas in a supportive environment. Worst case scenario, it's always more fun to watch someone else's toddler meltdown. And you know they don't think you're crazy. For having kids.
More with Jen!
3 comments:
lol! Have a great weekend!
I must try the sneeze thing. If it doesn't work, I'll have to go back to figuring out how to change a diaper on an airborne 6-month old.
We took the babies in for their checkup today and I noticed midway that D4 was still wearing last night's dinner in his eyebrows. The doctor laughed. I commented how gratifying it was to have a doctor who has four kids and doesn't hold you to an only-child standard of maintenance. :-P
LOL: "it's always more fun to watch someone else's toddler melt down."
Thank you.
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