Ethan’s thumb slowly slipped out of this mouth, and the muscles of his body completely relaxed. He was finally ready to be transferred to the crib from my lap. I knew I could have moved him earlier, but I figured that since was a weekend morning, so why not indulge myself in some weekend cuddles. Then I heard Ollie yelling, “daddy?!? DADDY!!!!”
I had set up my four-year-old, Ollie in front of the television Sunday morning, so that time I could put my six-month-old, Ethan down for a nap. I told Ollie what I was doing, and I figured it would sink in that he shouldn’t yell while Ethan went down for a nap.
I mistimed it and Ollie’s episode of Transformers: Rescue Bots finished, right as Ethan fell asleep in my arms. When he’s done with a show, sometimes Ollie keeps quiet, knowing that the next episode may autoplay, which is the worst feature ever for parents trying to limit binge watching for children. Most of the time, he lets me know, and I’ll turn off the television, (even though he knows how to do this himself).
As Ollie continued to scream. I started to get out the rocking chair, as fast a possible and as gently as possible trying to get Ethan settled in his crib, before Ethan was startled awake by Ollie’s yelling. I started telling myself, “sure a faster transfer of a baby to a crib, is actually more effective.”
As I slowly closed Ethan’s door after putting Ethan down, I saw Ollie standing there. He looked up at me and whispered, “daddy…” I picked him up and reminded him that he need to be quiet when i was trying to help Ethan take a nap. “But my show was done,” he replied. I simply gave him a hug as I tried not to understand the logic of a four-year-old.
Taking care of two kids in general is harder than taking care of just one. There are times when they cooperate to help each other out. For example, sometimes Ollie is into some independent play while Ethan needs attention, and other times Ethan quietly watches Ollie and I play, and lets us have some time and space. Yesterday, Ollie had no problem playing by himself while I gave Ethan a bath, and Ethan napped well enough that I had a good chunk of time to devote just to Ollie.
Then there are the rare moments when it really is easier to have two kids at the same time. After Ollie was done with breakfast, he got a book out. He wanted to show me something in the book, while I was finishing my breakfast. Ethan was on the floor looking up at me. Then Ollie started showing his book to Ethan. He explained what was going on in the book. Ethan stopped trying to get my attention, and looked up at Ollie in awe.
I got a solid ten minutes out of this interaction, so I could finish my breakfast in peace. It was wonderful. Oh yeah, and Ollie sharing his love of reading with Ethan was also a nice bonus too.
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