DDs are 25 months apart, and we had purchased two doll strollers when they were young (not expensive ones) - and one actually survived their childhood.
I have been playing ‘catch up’ with GS2 (who is now 20 months old) - about 3 months ago, I ordered him a plush blue blanket for his embroidered name in the corner (the older two had them from me, but I never came across a blue baby blanket in my local stores) - Embroidered first and middle name from a local shop. When I saw GS1 play a lot with Batman figure toy (knew he was ‘stuck’ on Batman; had purchased this for him for Christmas, but forgot it with the other gifts so he got it at Valentine’s) - so I noticed GS2 was also interested, as his interest and curiosity is with what his older siblings are doing - I ordered a second Batman via Amazon. GS2 was thrilled. GS1’s is all black, while GS2’s has some gray with figurine shirt. I can say “where is Batman?” and GS2 goes to fetch. Two visits ago, I realized GD had Minnie Mouse plush, and GS1 had Mickey Mouse - so on this last visit I brought GS2 his own Mickey Mouse. Fortunately our local Kohl’s store had two Mickey Mouses on the shelf. I have girl baby blanket (waiting until after birth to get name embroidered) and Minnie Mouse all ready for GD2 due mid-June. WHEW!
I do understand how one gets all caught up in all the other things in life and can overlook something important to the little ones.
DD1 has figured out where she can obtain some of the learning tile kits DDs used in Montessori. After she has them purchased, I will share here. There was some things from Discovery Toys that lasted from DDs that now are in DD1’s hands. I still have to locate the box with wooden puzzles…one of my summer chores, to again go through my boxes/storage and declutter, with useful things to recycle.
I had 3 metal cars (bright colors, knock off of sports cars) that are bigger than Hotwheels’ size - and I had them in a bin for when the Gkids are at my house (typically for stop over on the way somewhere else, like the April wedding trip). GD and GS1 were crazy about them so I put them in their travel home bag. They are the kind where you pull them back across the floor and they run forward when you let go.
GD was 'thinking about crawling" last week. Last night D texted that GD took off crawling quickly across the living room. Gates are going up!
Has anyone here bought the play kits from Loveevery? I see the ads all of the time and believe it is a subscription. I’m consideing getting this for GD but want to know if it is worth it (it’s pretty pricey).
My two year old GD gets the kits. She likes some of it & ignores some of it. D considers it worth the cost, because it has exposed GD to different types of play/learning … plus, she is able to resell to her community moms online group members for almost as much as she paid for the toys!
If you babysit more than one grandchild in your home, how do you handle nap time? Do toddlers/preschoolers nap in the same room as a baby? Do they tend to wake each other up or keep each other from ever falling asleep? Are their sleep schedules at all similar? Any other issues with more than one?
When we watch both- 3 and 1 yr olds- the younger one believe it or not walks to her crib if you ask if she’s sleepy - but she has fallen asleep on the couch or a mat on the floor (like the daycare does). The older one sometimes naps but usually busies herself with a book or iPad and knows to be quiet.
I have 3 grandkids–2 1/2 yo twins and a 8 month old.
The twins sleep in one room together for naps. Each twin doesn’t require the same amount of napping, but both have “nap” at the same time or it’s total insanity. Twin A who needs less sleep than her sister has to stay in her bed and do a quiet activity, usually “reading”–i.e. looking thru her books and reciting the stories very softly to herself-- until she falls asleep. Twin B needs more sleep and will occasionally even take herself to bed when she’s tired.
I can’t put the baby to sleep in the same room because the twins are too noisy and spend all their nap time “checking” on the baby-- poking him to ask “Are you asleep?” so no one gets any sleep. (And when too tired or just “in a mood”, the twins can be wild monkeys at nap time, emptying dressers/toyboxes/bookshelves/diaper boxes, jumping on beds, screaming and giggling madly–there is absolutely no way a baby could asleep through that!)
While the baby would love to sleep on me–and I did allow Twin B to do that when she was an infant**–I don’t because he needs to learn how to soothe himself to sleep so he goes into a portacrib in separate darkened room (my bedroom) with a brown noise machine. (Alexa, turn on brown noise.) I have a naptime routine I use with him and it’s his signal that’s it’s time to nap. If he’s still crying after 10 minutes I’ll go get him up and see what the issue is. Pooped his diaper? Hungry? Spit up on himself? Wet bedding? Just not tired enough yet?
**This was a really hard habit to break with her. She took quite a while to transition to sleeping without all the holding. I remember spending 3 1/2 hours with her on my chest/ lap one day. It was pretty uncomfortable. I was fortunate I was able to have my phone to scroll through, but I really needed to use the bathroom and eventually woke her up so I could go. Because she was so hard to put to sleep, she was nicknamed “The Dragon” (As in "Don’t wake the dragon!) Because of that experience, I’ve never let the newest baby sleep on me.
I always take care of GS and GD at their house. That way I don’t have to worry about food, supplies, toys, yard, bikes, etc. We live only five minutes away, so it is just easier for us.
When kids were babies, I would read to them in the nursery, give a bottle, rock and sing, and put them in their crib when they were very sleepy. It usually worked. When it didn’t, I would just hold them for that nap time. I’m a big fan of snuggling babies while they sleep. As they got older, I would follow the same routine, but then snuggle with them in D and SIL’s bed. I sometimes napped with them. When GS no longer napped, he would look at books and/or watch PBS Kids on an iPad.
They are six and four now, so no naps, but we still always have at least an hour of quiet time.
DD2’s kids are GD 5, GS1 almost 4, and GS2 almost 21 months old. GD and GS1 know they need to be quiet to take their nap after GS2 is already asleep in his crib (right now they are all sharing a very large bedroom, with two twin beds and a crib all in the same room). One one weekend day when GD didn’t want to take her nap, I put her in the master BR (right across the hall) and stayed with her a few minutes (her brothers were already asleep). She was tired/overtired. I don’t remember if she was wanting to get back into her bed and I carried her, or if she finished her nap on her parents’ bed. But they all got their nap in. GD and GS1 know not to make noise when they wake from their nap - they just come and ‘show up’ where I am.
I believe when GD2 comes in June, she will stay next to mom in cradle and then in portable crib. When they move Dec/Jan, the older two will go into bunk beds, and the two other beds will go to GS2 and GD2 - GD2 will go in the crib first while GS2 advances from crib into bed.
She won’t be going into the bunk bed for a while (for the top bunk), just the lower bunk bed - and this is AFTER Dec/Jan move. The baby (due in June) will be in the portable crib and then regular crib for a long time, and the two middle kids will be in the toddler beds. DD2 is a RN and very safety conscious.
Few years back, there was a thread about how a lot of college kids got hurt when they fell off a bunk bed. They suggested putting a bed rail on bunk bed.
I got to be a guest reader for GD’s daycare class. Its a group of spirited 3 year olds and I wasn’t sure how it would go. They actually sat through 3 books. GD knew I was coming, but her face lit up when I walked into the room. Afterwards she asked if I could stay (I couldn’t). It was such a happy day for me.
Whoa! Twin A just spontaneously and completely unprompted counted to 100. She’s 2-1/2.
(Her dad, being a smartasss and a mathematician, told her if she really wanted to impress him she should calculate the square root of 19 to 5 decimal places. Hint: it’s an irrational number.)
Wow! My 2-1/2 year old GD sings songs she makes up about liking little bracelets.
She has quite the sense of humor. Last night, the family was hanging out with their dog. Her dad told her, “Tell her to sit.” GD said, “(Mom’s first name), sit!” and burst out laughing.
That’s Twin B’s new thing. I am no longer “Grandma”, I am [first name]. She came out of her bedroom after getting dressed the other morning, came into the kitchen where I was making my morning coffee, leaned against the refrigerator with her arms & legs crossed (think James Dean ultra cool pose) and asked, “How’s it going, [first name]?”
