Funny story. Sunday, at church I approached our "more mature" Sunday school teacher to ask if she might have any Ibuprofen on her (yay for sciatic pain, yet another side-effect of pregnancy). Ok, before I really start the story, I'd like to let you know that I am not pregnant, hence the asking for Ibuprofen. Everyone knows you can't take Ibuprofen while you are pregnant, unless, of course, your doctor says you can. Anyways, before I can even finish my question she smiles, gives me a big hug and congratulates me on being pregnant again. And starts to tell me how wonderful it is to have kids so close together in age....I quickly interrupt with a, "Haha, uhm, I'm not pregnant, just a little fat."
"Oh," she says, "I normally wouldn't say anything, I'm so embarrassed, I hate to ask before I know for sure, I thought that you were but I wasn't going to say anything, but then when I saw you today I thought for sure you were pregnant." This is where I stopped her, even though I considered letting her dig some more, because it was getting pretty funny. And since I'm not pregnant I have a sense of humor. I guess next time I stop by the bakery I should only pick up a half dozen donuts, knowing I probably won't share them. And I should never, ever buy peanut butter M&Ms again.
It is that time again, the time where everyone I know, except me, is pregnant. No, it does not make me a little sad. This time around it's most of my friends' second pregnancy. I've been anonymously asked several times what advice I have for managing two kids. I say anonymously because even though I know who they were, they've asked me not to share, because apparently I'm the keeper of pregnant secrets.
First, I laugh, because the advice that comes to mind straight away is, "Don't do it!" but obviously for them it is too late. Ok, mostly I'm not serious. I wouldn't send back my Korban even if I could (let's not pretend there weren't a few sleepless nights when I would have considered it). In so many ways two is better than one, and I hear it gets better as they get older. I am certainly glad I had siblings growing up, although I'm not sure I was glad growing up that I had siblings.
Second I laugh because I'm not sure what I'm doing can be considered managing. Pretty sure I still don't have this thing figured out yet. I think I may be getting closer, as today my kitchen is clean, I have showered and 1 out of two is dressed (albeit in mismatched clothes). We even had "school time" today. Kennady learned about the letter A. She practiced drawing it while I cleaned the kitchen, and Korban sat in his high chair eating and eating. She drew one nearly perfect A and a bunch of H's. Then she said that was enough A's. And continued to cutting A's out of a magazine. Or, um, cutting the magazine to shreds. Eh, pretty good for a 3 year old.
Another tidbit is that if the words "easy" and "quick" don't describe it, it won't get done in the first 3-6 months of child number two's life.
My only other piece of advice would be not to underestimate your two/three/or even one year old. I mean this in two ways:
One, your two year old will find all sorts of ways you never though imaginable to cause trouble when you aren't looking. Whether you aren't looking because you accidentally fell asleep over your breakfast, or because you are nursing a new baby who likes to scream a lot. Leaving the room for two seconds will probably result in some sort of travesty. And it will usually involve child number two crying. But, don't worry too much, because as you learned from child number one, babies are a lot tougher than you thought.
Two, your two year old is actually a pretty good helper. She can pick up things off the floor. She can fetch binkies, blankies, bottles, etc. She can alert you when the baby is doing something he shouldn't do (sticking small objects in his mouth). This will later be known as tattle-telling. The two year old is adaptable and a quick learner. She will learn something new nearly everyday. She can wipe up spills, dress herself, throw laundry in the wash, take it out of the dryer and fold towels. She can start using the potty by herself. She can feed herself. She can scavenge for food. She can pick up her toys. She can dump ingredients into the mixing bowl. She can push buttons. She can turn off lights, put her shoes and socks on, and get together her own "diaper bag." She can entertain the baby, making him laugh like no one else can. She can unload the dishwasher, help set the table, and put her own (and maybe even daddy's) dishes in the sink. She can push a vacuum and mop the floor with a rag. She can "read" stories to herself and baby. She can make her bed (even if you can't make yours).
I think a lot of parents do their children a disservice by underestimating them. They can help. They won't always want to, but generally it's not too hard to persuade a two year old to do something. (Wow, look at me using homophones correctly, I must be getting more sleep).
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