HS with a toddler

I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you one thing that helps me. When my little ones begin to outgrow their morning nap, I continue to make it a habit to put them in their crib with a few toys to play alone for one hour. Then I at least have that one hour of devoted, uninterrupted (hopefully) time.

My “baby” is 9 but I sure remember what it was like when he was a toddler!  Things that worked for us:

I spent time with him right before I needed him to let me work with the others for a bit.  I kept a special box of activities that he didn’t get any other time–the novelty factor helped his attention span!  I “blanket-trained” him for reading aloud times.  I did a lot during his naps.  I did include him whenever possible–for example if we were doing a science experiment using water, we set him on a towel with a pan of water and some measuring cups.  We tried to remain flexible–every so often, something just had to wait until I had more “hands” available. 

But for all that, still be prepared for fun.  🙂  Try to remember to laugh first, lol.  We had a few classic moments with this particular active little boy.  Once when I was busy with an older child, he managed to climb up on the counter and began emptying spice bottles and rubbing the spices into his hair.  And one memorable day, when I went to the bathroom (it was just for a couple of minutes, really!) he got an empty chicken package out of the trash, dumped some leftover chicken juice on the floor, got into the pantry, added some baby rice cereal, pancake syrup, and then some cooking oil, and when I came back down the hallway, was belly-sliding in it, laughing wildly.  (So were his older brothers!) 

Funny, if you’d told me then that I’d miss having a toddler, I’m not sure I’d have believed it. 

I wish I could say I handled it beautifully!  Actually, I think I shrieked, started to work up to that tizzy, then saw the startled faces of the boys, calmed down a minute, then I did laugh some.  (It is definitely funnier now, though!)  What else was there to do?  It was either a “laugh or cry” situation, and crying gives me a headache.  LOL  Then I made the older boys work on the floor while I scrubbed the baby, then we had a long talk about how it was funny, but not very safe, not to mention wasteful, and they really needed to get me when Noah started to do things like that.  (Plus I put a lock on the pantry door, and was more careful what I left in the trash!)  It wouldn’t have been much use to lecture the toddler, he wasn’t much over a year old.  My biggest regret is that I didn’t get a picture!

One blessing I’ve always had, since my family is small, and took us some time and work and prayer to get them all here–I’ve often had running through my head the thoughts “God didn’t have to give me a family, but He did, and this might be the last time this ever happens . . . ”  I’ve always tried to focus on the moment.  I’ve done a little better than some of my friends, but I certainly could have done much better.  I spent all too many days just getting through the day, I’m afraid.  I wish I’d laughed more, worried less about getting it all done.  I still work on it, actually, especially now that it appears that it all IS the last time, and the time is fast approaching when they will be gone . . .  It goes so fast. 

I actually have a book recommendation for you, Faith.  It’s actually from a sort of a Waldorf point of view, but it’s a good read for helping us moms to focus on the moment.  It’s called Mitten Strings for God, by Katrina Kenison. 

I love everyone’s stories and suggestions!  Mine aren’t toddlers anymore (youngest is 4) but it wasn’t too long ago we were in the same boat… take a deep breath and try to embrace the moment, it will go by in a blink!  For blkateri14 children’s ages I would suggest a lot of outside learning time. Charlotte Mason wrote, “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.”  We did most of our learning phonics/numbers games outside using sidewalk chalk, mud, rocks, leaves, flowers, bubbles, pinecones… well, you get the idea!  I saved quieter read-alouds for AFTER putting the youngest down for a nap, that worked best for our family and I was constantly reading to the little one too, so she wasn’t being left out of reading time.   One other thing I would highly recommend is homemade play clay, loads of it!  I can’t even imagine how many hours of lesson time we have been able to accomplish because of this stuff!  Best wishes, let us know how it goes! Rachel

I thought I would share this post about what happens sometimes – even when you try to keep a lookout!  This is at my house today and one of the bigger kids left the bathroom door open.  The 1yr old took advantage.  At least it wasn’t the toilet!

http://ourbusyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/07/hes-only-1-help.html

Tristan, those pics are priceless!  I admire you for taking pics and recording the moment instead of instantly scolding!  Something I am still working on.  For example, I babysit for a 20-month old girl and she takes her naps in our school room.  She was obviously too close to my daughter’s desk, and I found her with black marker all over her clothes, legs, and the crib sheet!  I panicked immediately and took her into the bathroom to clean her off.  I found, to my relief, that it was only a dry erase marker and not the sharpie that I feared it to be. In hindsight, it would have been a very cute picture!  Instead I focused on cleaning up the mess.  Oh well.  I’m learning to be a little less uptight in situations like that!

Faith 🙂