where is "Life with a Toddler AND a Babe?"

[clemrose]

I have an almost 16 week old son and an almost three year old daughter. My spirited daughter drives me crazy most of the time!

She wants her brother ALL of the time. She wants to hold him, kiss him, hug him, roll him!, lick him, poke him, pinch him, feed him (toys, her fingers, etc--he's ebf from the breast), play with him, consume him!

This is coming after months of me having to protect him from her teeth, fists, etc. I can't wait until he is mobile and can interact more, somehow i think that will make things better...

how do you cope?

[tracymom1]

Oh mama! What an ordeal!!

Well, over here DD is almost 6 months and DS is 28 months... our hardest obstacle is having 'enough' of mommy to go around. Obviously the babe needs me for very urgent, particular needs like nursing and soothing - and DS does not like this one bit!!! If it were up to him, Papa would hold the baby all day so he could sit on my lap and read books with him. He has really started to regress in order to get more of my attention. It is driving me batty!

How do I cope? A glass of wine once they are both asleep!

But seriously... lots of visits from friends and family. I take all the company I can get - it breaks the day up and the kids love having people over. I recently figured out how to take both of them out in public without completely loosing my mind so that has also helped - it is amazing how rewarding a successful trip to the grocery store can be! I am also very lucky to have a very involved, hands-on DH who will stay home with both of them for an hour or so whenever I need a real break. He is my savior!

It is so hard having 2 very little ones!

[clemrose]

tracymom1, thanks for your response, I'm feeling a bit better now that they are both asleep (for awhile anyway!). I'm really fortunate--my husband is like yours and is off three days a week to boot! And my dd spends two mornings a week with my dad, so I do have a lot of relief in that way.

I think I lost it a little more than normal today because my son hasn't been sleeping very well (just a growth spurt I hope!) and we're getting ready for our first trip since becoming a family of four.

thanks again!

[jenneology]

My little boy is somewhat like that too. I have told him over and over to give his sister space. And my way of keeping sanity has been to tell him that if he cannot give her the space she needs, then I will need to separate him from her. I separate him by creating another play space for him and putting a baby gate between them. I can go over and back and forth between the two, be interacting with both of them at the same time, balance the time between the two, and they are also to interact with each other as well (depending how close the baby is to the gate). I find this especially helpful when I am busy (say cooking or getting someone dressed) and I'm not able to be right between the two of them. Being in the middle of that is so exhausting though, which is why I use the baby gate to separate them!