mornings with a 2yo!! HELP!

[kellykins]

Not sure if this is the best place for this question, but hey.. better than not asked, right?

We recently moved and dh changed jobs. He now must get up early, dress in dress pants and be out the door in a reasonable amount of time. Dd part-time co-sleeps (meaning she sneaks in with us at 2am haha) and Daddy leaving the bed wakes her up... So, we are up with Daddy every morning. She wants to do everything with Daddy, she wants Daddy to take her potty, wants to brush her teeth with Daddy, help him get dressed, etc etc.. It takes dh a LOT longer to get ready when she "helps" and although he hasn't said anything, I know it frustrates him to a point...

If we (dd and I ) are going somewhere that day, (or its a weekend and we are all leaving together) total disaster, Daddy and Mommy both trying to get ready at the same time, dd digging makeup and soap and lotions out of drawers as we go, DIGGING IN THE TRASH (ew!) anything she can think of to get attention.

I am not against TV, but even parking her in front of Word World or BunnyTown doesn't always keep her from "attacking" while we try and get ready for our days...

Any ideas?

[babsbob]

Maybe you can enlist her help to make Daddy's breakfast, or pack Daddy's lunch - then she is still helping Daddy without slowing him down.

As for when you're all getting ready - just try to make it fun and try not to rush too much. Sing songs as you get dressed, give her a blush brush to "put on her pretend makeup". Ask her to go pick out her clothes or help pick out your clothes. I try to give my DD a task like putting on her shoes, brushing her teeth, or going to find her coat, picking out a toy to bring with us. I also find that snacks help keep her occupied.

Those are my tricks anyway.

[Hesperia]

Make her YOUR helper.

Ask for her help finding her clothing, your makeup brush, your toothbrush etc. "helpers" really work...I swear.

If not get a basket of fun things for the washroom, makeup brush, mirror, natural lipgloss that wont get all over (thinking turn up one, not a pot) and allow her to play with them. Encourage her to get ready, or help you get ready.

Or, bath and night and put all your makeup/cloths on then....haha I'm kiding ofcourse, but sometimes I doubt I am.

[kellykins]

I will TRY this tommorow... She does usually get to put on "Bees" (burts bees lip balm stuff hehe) every morning, and brush her teeth and all... Maybe I need to be more of a morning person, haha!

(I also wish she would SLEEP IN after we get up--- she is getting up an hour earlier than she used to!!!!!!)