Preparing for our new baby!

We are having our baby very soon! I wanted to do a few activities with Honey Pot and Little M&M to help them prepare. We did this five years ago with Honey Pot, and it was a great success. Click on the link below to look back on how we prepared our toddler for her new brother:

New Baby Theme, 2012

This time our big siblings are much older than toddlers. So to begin, we purchased a new book called Babies Don't Eat Pizza from Amazon. There are so many great big sibling books out there for toddlers and preschoolers, but I wanted something for older kids--something that went into a little more detail. And this book was perfect! We read all about what they can expect when mom and dad go to the hospital, and how their new baby will grow. We often stopped to discuss things and answer their questions while reading.

 

Next we made a countdown! I was inspired by this one that I found on Pinterest. When we were 20 days from our due date, we traced each of our hands, only gluing down the palms. We explained to the kids that sometimes babies come early, so it was possible that they'd have to fold down the last few all at once. And in our situation, we wouldn't go beyond that date, so it works well for us.

Here it is after a couple of days:

And a few more!

And finally, just as we did the first time around, we had our big siblings decorate onesies for their baby sister! We slipped a piece of cardboard inside them, and had the kids use fabric markers.

These are really special for them, and I can't wait to see our new baby wearing the clothes they decorated for her!

New Baby

Theme Of The Day: New Baby

Age: 22 months

Notes: We have been trying to prepare Honey Pot for the arrival of her baby brother for many months now. But I wanted to include it in our Tot School as well, especially now that I am full-term in my pregnancy. So here are the activities we did today!

Big Sister Book

I gave Honey Pot a new book this morning called I'm A Big Sister, by Joanna Cole.

She wanted me to read it to her right away! I love how simplistic the words are, as they are told in the first-person by the new big sister. It explains that babies like to drink milk and sleep a lot, and reasons why they cry. It also says that they can't yet play with toys or eat pizza. The language is perfect in helping Honey Pot understand what her baby brother will be like. As soon as I finished reading it, she asked me to read it again. We read it FIVE consecutive times this morning, as well as a few more times throughout the day. She loves her new book, and I highly recommend it.

Photo Album

As described in the book above, I pulled out a photo album full of pictures of Honey Pot as a baby. At first she thought it was her baby cousin, but I was able to convince her that it was actually her, and that she was a little baby once too.

There are a couple of toys in the pictures that she still plays with, such as the O'Ball. She ran right to her room to get it.

Changing A Diaper

A week ago, we purchased a baby doll for Honey Pot - her first one! She fell in love with it immediately and has been taking care of her ever since, even sleeping with her at night. So we practiced giving the baby a "dipey change" a few times. She even ran to her room to get the wipes and baby powder!

Being Gentle

I told honey Pot that she needs to always be gentle with the baby, so we practiced how to do that.

Reasons Babies Cry

We discussed a few reasons why the baby might cry. Then any time Honey Pot had her baby go "wah, wah" I would ask her what she thought was the matter, or what we could do to make the baby happy. Her first answer was so sweet. She gave the baby a kiss.

The next time the baby cried, we decided that the baby was hungry and wanted some milk.

Later, she wanted to be rocked. So Honey Pot held her, sang her the ABC song and then set her down in the baby swing. She even made sure the buckle was on so that her baby was safe and snug.

A Present For Baby

We ended the day by decorating a onesie for her baby brother. I told her that she could color an outfit for Little M&M, and she was so excited. I hadn't planned this in advance, and so I did not have special fabric markers or appliques to use. But I read online that you can use permanant markers as well. So that is what we did...very carefully!

Honey Pot was so proud of the outfit she made for her baby brother. I told her that Little M&M would be so happy to wear it when he arrives, and that it would show him how much she loves him.

After ironing the onesie to allow the colors to set, it is now ready for Little M&M to wear!