BOY!! My son and his wife will be welcoming their second child November 9, a baby brother for my little granddaughter. Vanessa is so excited to soon become a big sister, and while I sat with her earlier today while mom and dad walked to the clinic, she was babbling on and on about the new baby.
This is such happy news, I wanted to share it with you guys.
Thanks, Tess and Tina. This little guy already has everything a baby boy could need. My d-i-l's mother has already given her enough baby clothes for a girl or a boy from newborn to 12 months.
Looks like my role is more babysitting than anything else, and that's okay. It's wonderful to be able to be the "fun" nanny that lets the little ones have chocolate chip cookies for lunch instead of a humus sandwich, paint toenails together, that kind of thing.
well boys grow fast and he might be in those 12 month outfits in no time, but toys are fun too
LOL, Tina! We're not allowed to buy toys unless thwy have been sanctioned by the Montessori theories. I receive a list twice a year of the toy wish-list. My d-i-l is a Montessori teacher and is really strict about all kinds of stuff. Like no TV - they don't even own one. No cribs, no playpens, and very limited use of strollers. For every tool mommy uses around the house, there has to be a mini one - broom, vacuum cleaner, watering can, whisks, mixing bowls...you get the picture.
That's why I get such a kick out of being a wicked nanny and doing fun non-Montessori things. And yep, I let her watch a little TV when she's here alone with me. She likes Amber on Y&R!!!
Congratulations. I'm very excited for you, for your son, daughter-in-law, and Vanessa, and for all of your family. It's so nice to have such happy news!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Thanks, kris and Moore! This good news has put some life into my parents, both of whom have been pretty low these last few months. With my mother still in the rehab hospital, Dad has been moping around, and he really won't accept much help from us. The news put a spring in his step I hadn't seen in a while, and my mom was beaming.
wow I don't get no cribs or strollers, how does that work?
Baby sleeps on a mattress on the floor and the bedroom is made 100% child-proof. Then as the child crawls or toddles, they are taught to gently rap on their closed door to call a parent. It seemed bizarre at first, but Vanessa learned well that her room is her sanctum, a safe place that's all hers.
As for the stroller thing, baby is carried in a sling or a snuggly until she can walk, then toddles alongside mom and dad.
It isn't an easy choice! I was way too lazy for that when I was raising my kids. I don't think they suffered by being in a crib, stroller or playpen, and it made my life a lot easier. My son's whole house is like a playpen. He had to fasten all the dressers and buffet thingies to the walls with special gadgets so that a climbing child couldn't pull the thing over on itself. There isn't one corner of the house that's off limits to toddler, except the bathroom, and even that has a specially built ladder type gizmo so supervised toddler can reach the basin for washing up. I get weary just describing it.
Wow. I couldn't do it, KaeEll... I'm also far too lazy.
However, I guess that I DID do a modified version of your son's theory by making our family room a "caged" playpen area when our kids were younger, and that did make my life a lot easier. I worried about the stairs when the kids were little, and were into absolutely everything, but there does come a time when a mom needs to do the dishes, throw in some laundry, or actually take a shower!
Our family room has two entrances -- one to the kitchen, and one to the front hall, with the stairs right there at the front family room door. I put baby gates across both of those doors (screwed into the door frame, and the kind that open like a minidoor, not the spring loaded kind). The family room was completely childproof. Of course, there were comfortable chairs and sofas for them to sit on, a wicker coffee table with no sharp corners, a gazillion toys, books, and the TV/VCR with the requisite Disney movies and Sesame Street tapes! Because I was in and out of the kitchen quite a lot (and the laundry room is off the kitchen), I was always right there with the kidlettes, or in close proximity, but I knew that if I had to leave the area briefly, they were confined to a safe place for a few minutes, and had plenty to occupy them.
I thought that this solution was better than sticking the children into a small playpen, or making them get into a crib while I did some of these necessary tasks, although I also had those options, and used them occasionally too -- depending!
Okay, aside from being lazy, I'm also a HUGE worrier, and I know that accidents can happen in a heartbeat. That's why I didn't feel comfortable having my toddlers roam free throughout the house until they were clearly old enough to understand what was off limits, and what wasn't. The family room solution also made it possible for me to avoid having to constantly tell my toddlers "no", or "don't touch" all day long which, I hope, made life less stressful for them too.
Frankly, it's one thing to have one's toddler tag along with you throughout the house, "helping" with the chores, when it's a firstborn child, and the only one to watch, because there aren't any other distractions for the mom. The parenting focus is on that one child, and that child alone. But once you introduce the second (or third) child into the mix, you just can't keep a proper eye on every little thing every minute, especially if the children are close together in age, as my first two were (sixteen months apart).
Vanessa is old enough now so that your son and daughter-in-law shouldn't have any problems with the "no crib/no stroller" solution with the new one, but if she were currently only a year old, I'd really want to stand back and watch them try to juggle TWO toddlers at the same time, down the road, without having alternative confinement solutions!
I think, though, that it all comes down to "whatever works".
I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have made my entire house a playpen, though. I have too much "stuff", and since my husband and I had already been married for twelve years before we ever had our children, our house was already very much NotChildproof...!!! I would have had to box everything I owned, and put it away for ... I don't know HOW many years. In fact, I would have had to redecorate entirely because I also wouldn't have been willing to drill holes into the antique pieces in order to attach them to the walls. Not happening...!!!
By the way, can you tell your daughter-in-law to shoot for November 3rd...???
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
my house is mostly babyproofed, I didn't use a playpen either. But I loved using a stroller, they juse walk so darn slow and get in to everything in the stores, and as for the crib, well they all ended up sleeping with me, even though they had the most gorgeous crib bedding!
