Spoiler alert... it was MY idea! Oh, my blissful naivety.
I don't regret having babies this close together, I don't find regret to be a very useful emotion. But holy smokes is having these two babies a ton of work. I hear that after some amount of time it's not so hard anymore, but I can't remember how long. Maybe 18 years?
Currently Carolyn is 10 months old, crawling like a champ, and pulling herself up on everything. Everything. Mostly, she's either grabbing onto my pant leg and immobilizing me, or she's crawling up on whatever Peter is doing or playing with. Peter is currently your average two year old, who happens to be fiercely territorial and easily forgets the fragile nature of his little sister. This equals a lot yelling and pushing from Peter, followed by a lot of crying from Carolyn, followed by discipline for Peter, followed by crying from Peter. It's a fun cycle.
Sometimes Peter is so sweet and loving with his sister. He loves to give her hugs and kisses and is always on top of making sure we don't leave the house without her (I'm not sure why he thinks we're going to, I promise we never have). But other times she will be a full two feet away from him, strapped in a high chair, and he's screaming "NOOOO!" at her because she turned her head his direction. I feel like everything I'm trying to do to improve this situation isn't even making a dent. Do I try more things? Do I try less things for longer?
The yelling is one thing, but when he pushes her away, almost every time she falls down and/or gets hurt in some way, and we just can't have that. Right? Or do I need to just learn to handle my baby getting pushed around? That doesn't sit right with me. I've got to be able to teach him somehow.
So this is me asking for all of your best and finest, or even mediocre, advice on how to help a toddler not injure the baby who won't stop grabbing everything the toddler is playing with.
Ready... go!Labels: Motherhood, Parenting, Personal Growth