OT but i need info please.............

[danaalex]

anyone here have more than 2 kids (young, like both are under 4) and live in a townhouse, with or without covered parking, and in a cold weather climate?

i am in desperate need of hearing your way of dealing with stairs and young children, as well as while pg. also, how do you handle warming up your car and children? do you bundle them up and leave them inside, and then leave your car running when you go to get them? or do you bundle them up, and bring them out with you and have them wait for the car to warm up with you? how do you do all of this with three small small children? i'm losing my mind thinking of this. i need an insiders point of view, please!!!!!!! i beg of you

[ctdoula]

Sweetie, I only have one, but I lived in Vermont for the 1st 18 years of my life & CT the rest (think VERY cold long winters, LOL). It will be okay!!!!! The hardest part is having to clear the snow off the car. If your dh will do this for you, you're all set. That & a path cleared to the car. (If you get this from your dh you're lucky, because mine leaves me to do it ).


Just get the kids dressed in the house (think FLEECE (Lands End or Hanna are great) not big poofy snow suits), and bring them out to the car. It takes less than 3 minutes for my car to start majorly cranking out heat. Get them in the seats, start the car, then buckle them in. By the time you're ready to go, the car should start getting warm & you're set to drive. As long as they have hats/mittens they'll be plenty warm. We also keep a quilt in the car (my dd calls it Meme's Blanket because her Meme (my mom) gave it to her) and we cover her with it.

True cold cold winter even here is really only Dec, Jan & Feb. In MD it is probably much milder. So, by the time the new baby comes, you'll be in the clear until next winter.

[FreeRangeMama]

Last winter I had 2 under 3 yrs and I live in Canada. We had our share of very, very cold days. When ds2 was in the infant carseat it was easier because I could bundle him up in the carseat inside and just carry the seat out, although ds1 didn't want to walk in the snow (and most days he refused all footwear except his Blue's Clues slippers so I HAD to carry him). What I did on those days was to make sure they were both dressed warm (I second the fleece) and usually I had them in layers like long underware, long socks, wool sweaters, etc as well as hats and mittens of course. With the layers I could just remove one or two layers if they got too warm. I carried them both out to the car and started it right away. I got them buckled up and covered them with blankets while the car warmed up (though our then-car didn't ever really get warm, especially in the back seat). While it "warmed up" I brushed off the snow and such and by then we were ready to go. If they got restless I could play all kinds of peek-a-boo games through the windows while I brushed off the snow. Hopefully we will be past most of the snow by the time this baby is born so I don't have to struggle with 3, though ds1 will be 4 and ds2 will be around 20 months so at least one of them will be able to walk on their own

HTH

[natashaccat]

Can you see your car from your house? If so you might consider investing in an autostart. Up here in Alaska they run about $300 installed. Its a little remote control that starts your car for you.

[danaalex]

Originally Posted by natashaccat

Can you see your car from your house? If so you might consider investing in an autostart. Up here in Alaska they run about $300 installed. Its a little remote control that starts your car for you.

several people had suggested this, and i think this is a great idea. after we move i am going to look into having this done no matter what LOL.

amy, the fleece is a great idea! i have several yards of fleece, i'll just start sewing some pants and i am already knitting pants, hats, and mittens for the girls. the change is weather is going to be such a shock to them. right now it's still WARM! the other day it was in the 60s and windy and my oldest kept telling us she was freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! INSANITY LOL.

[littlebeagle]

I'd also suggest the auto-start thing for the car. I want one!

About the stairs... Are you asking about stairs indoors or outdoors. At first I figured you meant indoors, but when you were mentioning outdoors, I thought maybe you meant icy stairs or something.

If you're talking about indoors, this is what I have:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=glance&s=baby
But if you need something that doesn't attach to the walls, they also make this kind:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=glance&s=baby
But be cautioned they dont recommend this for the top of the stairs.

Also be cautioned that my 3 yr old has figured out how to open it!!! It's not the gate's fault! He can open ANYTHING! When we got it, he was only 2yrs old, so it worked for a while.