Trading Nurseries

Since we are on the subject of the second baby and bring that baby home, and in fact HeatherY specifically mentioned the new baby's nursery in her comment yesterday, and since you all have good opinions and are always such a help to me... Let me tell you about our plans for the children's rooms and see what you think.

The plan is to move the Pumpkin into a new room, which we will do when she turns 2 in March as a birthday present. It will be Winnie-the-Pooh themed, so lately I've started getting her into Winnie (a really easy task). In June when the baby is born, we will keep the baby in our room in the co-sleeper next to my side of the bed for the first 6 months or so, as we did for the Pumpkin. When we and the baby are ready, we will move the baby into the nursery, which was the Pumpkin's nursery.

The reason for this change boils down to space. The Pumpkin's current room (the nursery, with a safari/animal theme) is pretty large and can comfortably fit the crib, the dresser/changing table, a twin bed, and the large glider/recliner that we have. Our other large room is the guest room because it can fit the queen-sized bed (plus some other small items). We need to keep the guest room with the queen bed because Londo's parents come up pretty frequently to visit, and they will be coming up to watch the Pumpkin when the baby is born, so we definitely need to keep it.

The room that we will move the Pumpkin to is smaller and was supposed to be my office/craft room, but I never did set it up in the 2+ years we've lived here. Instead, it became a place to dump and store stuff. My mom is currently helping me clean it out so we can set it up. It will definitely fit a twin bed, a dresser and a bedside table. There should be some floor space left for her to play. But there is no way that this room could also fit the glider/recliner, which is why I can't see it as a new nursery for the second child. I also want to be sure to have a twin bed and a crib in the nursery for the baby because I will likely cosleep for part of the night after we move the baby into the nursery, as I did with the Pumpkin.

To sum up:
-We need the nursery to be the large room because we need the space, therefore we are moving the Pumpkin into a smaller room.
-We need to keep our guest room, so we really can't make that room a new nursery.
-We are trying to make it a big, fun deal by making it her birthday present and having new decor with a theme she will love (she is already loving Winnie, Tigger and the others).
-We will move the Pumpkin 3 months before the baby comes, and we will keep the baby in our room for another 6 months. Hopefully, this will keep the Pumpkin from feeling like she had to give up her room for the baby.

Okay, what do you all think? Bad idea? Might work? My planning and decorating sense is impeccable? Let me have it.

Maybe Her Sibling Wants the Fork

I'm not going to talk about the toddler tantrums that are rampant in our house (especially this morning). Or the fact that I am about to actively start seeking out the gypsies (maybe they'd also take the cat). Instead, I'm going to focus on yesterday early evening when she (and I and Londo) was in a good mood.

The Pumpkin was happily climbing on the couch and then playing with her kitchen toys. I had been wanting to officially tell her about the pregnancy and her becoming a big sister, so Londo and I determined that then was as good a time as any.

We tried to get the Pumpkin's attention, but when she actually turned to us from her kitchen, it was to pass daddy a plate. Finally, Londo just said it.

Londo: Pumpkin, you are going to be a big sister!
Pumpkin doesn't even turn around and keeps playing with her kitchen.
caramama: Pumpkin, look! Mommy has a baby in her belly!
Pumpkin turns around and holds out a fork: Mommy fork!

That was of course just the response we were hoping for! ;-) We knew it was likely she wouldn't get it. She's almost 22 months and none of her friends or cousins have younger siblings (yet). We pretty much assumed it would sound like the Peanuts adults to her (waa waa waa waa), but we finished telling her about how she was going to be a big sister and that the baby in mommy's belly was growing. And I feel much better that we actually told her rather than talk about it around her and with other people in front of her.

Now, we will continue to talk about it around her and to her. In addition, we will buy some books and watch some shows about new babies and being a big sister. We've got five months (holy moley!!! Five months???) to get her ready for the new baby. I think it will also help when my stomach grows more and she can feel it move from the outside.

The one thing we have done at this point is to get her a few baby dolls with different accessories (other great gifts from Christmas) and start to mimic the care of a baby on her dolls. She was already really into putting diapers on her stuffed animals and pretending to feed them by putting them in her highchair. I'm hoping to continue this with her dolls and start to translate the thought to a real baby.

And in odd timing the past few months, the Pumpkin has been pointing to my nipples and saying "Mommy's nurse" which is her way of saying that those are my nipples (she started calling them nurse on her own). A couple days ago, she pointed to her belly button and said, "Pumpkin's nurse!" I corrected her by showing her where her nipples were and told her that they were also called nipples. The point of this paragraph is to say that I'm glad she remembers them and the term nurse, because I do plan to breastfeed the coming baby and I hope this helps her understand what I'm doing.

Finally, Londo and I are trying to stop referring to the Pumpkin as the baby. She will always be our baby, but we don't want to confuse her or cause undue jealousy of being replaced as the baby. So we are going to phase out calling her baby now before the next child comes.

Question of the Week - Great Gifts

I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of things. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. To have holidays and vacations and so many things outside of the normal routine--sometimes it's hard to remember the normal routines. And really hard to get back into work!

To help ease the transition, let's talk about great gifts you or your kids got this year. That way it won't quite feel like we are completely leaving the holidays behind.

Question of the week:

What was the best gift you or your kids (or spouse) got this holiday season? If you say a kid's gift, please also say the kid's age.

I have to say that the Pumpkin's best gift was accessories for her play kitchen. You see, we got this small play kitchen as a free hand-me-down months and months ago, but she really never did anything with it because it had almost nothing to go with it. One pot, one pan, one spatula and a chicken leg. So as part of the Pumpkin's Christmas wish list, I put kitchen accessories (and let everyone know what a sad state our current play kitchen was in). The Pumpkin got a set of dishes, cups, utensils, pots and pans from the nanny, and she got a set of nice metal pots and pans plus a set of food items from my mom.

Now, she LOVES the play kitchen is and constantly playing with it. Being almost 2, I think this is a great age for this kind of toy. When she was younger, it was like she didn't really know what to do with it anyway. Now she tells use she's cooking and brings us plates, utensils and cups. She does this all day long. I don't even mind the mess it makes with the eleventy billion pieces because it keeps her so happy and occupied.

How about you? Any real winners this year?