Baby girl's arrival is just ten weeks away, give or take, yikes! I'm thinking that it'll be easier on Noelle if we help her with some of the baby/toddler transitions now so she's not dealing with some of her inevitable milestones while getting used to a new baby in the house. Most things aren't within my control, of course. Noelle's the boss. (Fortunately, her two-year molars have been showing up early on their own! It looks like teething will be 100% over before the baby is here.) I am, however, starting to offer/change things that I might otherwise let slide for a while.?
Bottles-to-Sippy Cups: I let the bottles hang around probably much longer then I should have already. They're just so convenient, especially first thing in the morning. She can roll around in bed with us, happily drinking her milk, and not make a mess. We had been using sippy cups for water & juice, but kept bottles for the milk. Also, the sippy cups have more 'parts' to clean and are a bit of a hastle assemble. What I don't want, however, is for Noelle to see the new baby with a bottle and think the baby has something that should be 'hers'.?
So, last week I just threw them all out**. We couldn't use them if we didn't have them, right? Guess what? Noelle didn't even notice (surprise surprise). I should have done it earlier!
Potty Training: With Alex out of town we didn't have any big 'family outings' planned. So, I decided to give potty training a real try. She likes to sit on the potty and often wants to do so w/out her pants on. So, maybe she's ready? After a day and a half of Noelle walking around with no diaper I learned that she's not. She understands what's supposed to happen and said 'uh oh' and got upset whenever she peed on the floor. She just can't quite recognize when she needs to pee yet. So, we'll try this one again a little bit later.
Crib-to-Bed: We're hoping to not have to buy another crib. The plan is to have Noelle in a twin bed by the time the baby is 6 months old and outgrows the co-sleeper. We could buy some more time with the pack-and-play (like we did with Noelle) until around 9 months, but that's it.
As a first step, Noelle's crib converts into a toddler day-bed by taking off the front rail and adding a low guard rail. She's has a cold and we were home today. I decided to convert her bed this morning since it was raining we needed an indoor activity. One trip to Home Depot later (It came with the guard rail for the day-bed configuration but not the necessary bolts. Really? Grr.) and we had an adorable day-bed!*** Noelle thought it was awesome - to play in. She climbed in/out, threw her animals in/out, and jumped on it like crazy.
This is another transition that just won't work if the toddler isn't ready. She has to understand the 'invisible wall' that is her bed and stay in it. When nap time came around and I left the room, door slightly ajar (I didn't want her to try and get out and get mad/upset that she couldn't), I was certain I'd have a little visitor soon.?
She slept for 2.5 hours. Huh.
When she woke up, she rolled around and fussed in her bed, but didn't get out until I picked her up. Bedtime went just as smoothly. She's passed out as I type now! It is likely she doesn't quite realize that she's free to 'move about the cabin' and we have a gopher phase (up/down/up/down) coming our way. Still, I'm cautiously optimistic!
* This picture is actually from a run we did last Wednesday. Alex has the camera with him in Chili for the week. So, I'll be using some 'saved' pictures this week.
** New bottles are in the cupboard waiting for baby girl =)
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*** Try assembling furniture with a toddler 'helping'. I dare you.
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