Firstly, sorry about the bad quality photo above, I would have loved to have snapped a photo of my boys together this afternoon but with Milo being rather over-enthusiastic with Alfie right now, I didn't dare to step far enough away to grab my camera and then snap a shot! This photo is from when Milo and Alfie first met on the day little Alfie was born.
In many ways the timing of Alfie's arrival in to the world worked out quite well. He was born on a Tuesday which meant that according to Milo's routine between his father and I, he was due to sleep that and the next night at his dad's anyway so we didn't have to change much around. With Milo's world having been turned upside down lately and clear signs pre-birth that Milo was struggling a tad with it all, I wanted to keep his routine as settled as possible. With that in mind, Milo came back to his home with mummy to spend the night and I tackled having my two boys on my own for the first time. Milo's Opa (his German grandad) was very kind to pick Milo up from nursery for me as I wasn't quite ready to tackle that just yet and he then brought him home to us. Milo was very enthusiastic to show his ''little baby'' off to his Opa, showing how he has little feet and little legs and I managed to somehow balance with Alfie on my arm and Milo battling for sitting on my leg.
With Opa gone, I decided to give Milo his other presents from Alfie (he received a Gruffalo backpack from Alfie when he first met him which he has proudly taken to bed with him tonight) which included an Ice Age 4 DVD, something he's wanted to aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages. Then, much to my surprise, he decided he didn't want to watch it because ''it is too scary for the baby''. Ah, ok. We watched Ice Age 3 instead! During the first half of the film he forgot about Alfie for a while and then it started all over again with giving him leeway to stroke his little brother but also trying to stop him from putting all his weight on him, something he seems eager to do. It was a little exhausting I must say. At dinner time I thought Milo might appreciate some time just the two of us so I put a sleeping Alfie in his cot. Milo wanted to know where ''the baby'' (he hasn't gotten used to calling him Alfie yet) was and wanted him to join us. This continued throughout the evening. Where I thought Milo might want time with just Mummy, he asked for Alfie to join us and so I thought that was quite sweet. At bedtime I put Alfie in his cot though as I didn't want the distraction and Milo was getting quite testing at that point and I was concerned he may take his frustration out on his brother. With Alfie safely in the other room, I was able to relax a little more and we got to do our usual bedtime routine and believe it or not, Milo went off to sleep.
I have no idea what the night will bring us. Whether I will have 1 child up in the night or two but I feel good that I have at least survived the first bedtime tryout with two on my own and we all survived. I know this is going to get tougher as Alfie sleeps less and starts to cry more, but I will just have to tackle that when it comes to it. For now, I can rejoice in one success for today.
For fellow parents of a young child and a baby, how do you tackle bedtime? What do you find works and doesn't work for you?
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I am really interested to read how you get on as this will be me in a couple of weeks! Sounds like everything went really well and you let Milo have special time with you as well so he didn't feel left out. Hope it stays this smooth! x
ReplyDeleteHe had a number of tantrums and it wasn't easy but all in all, he went to bed at his normal time and went to sleep so it feels like a major success to me! x
DeleteSounds like you did really well, it can be a big hurdle having the confidence of dealing with two children on your own. it won't take long for your little family to settle into a bit of a routine though I have to say even 5 years down the line I still have nights when bedtime can be a struggle! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, I think that just knowing it's what I have to do makes me tackle it face on rather than freaking myself out about it. Bedtime's will be interesting from now on!
DeleteThat photo is so cute!
ReplyDeleteWell done you for tacking the first bedtime. Hope things are still going well.
:) Thank you! Will be tackling night number two with the two of them tonight. Fingers crossed it goes so well
DeleteI Have no advice other than this: take it one night at a time! Try to do it as "normal" as possible and see what works and what doesn't. Baby still sometimes interrupts or prolongs my older child's bedtime routine, but we're making by okay :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice :) It's going to be full of ups and downs, much like you have with just one child, so curious as to what is to come!
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