I'd be grateful for some tips! My toddler will be 2 soon and I just learned yesterday that another child will be joining our family soon. Very soon, in fact, it can be a matter of days, since the baby in question is estimated to be born in about 3 weeks ... so no biological child, obviously ;)
We know the mother and I knew before that there might be a chance the baby will get to live with us, but not for sure, so I could only "indirectly" prepare my son.
What I did:
- I ordered a babybed, but left it in the box. He knows there's a babybed in there and I told him if a baby will come live with us, it will get sleep there. He sometimes points to it and tells me its a bed for a baby to sleep. He also makes sure to add that it will get a dummy to sleep ;)
- We bought dummies for her together. I told him they are for Mary (that'll probably be her name), because we could just have given them to her mother, if she'd stay with her.
- I've told him about Mary and that she's in her mothers belly, that he can hold her, when she comes out. He's also seen the big belly.
Now that we know for sure:
- He helped me make some space for the babybed in our bedroom. I told him now that the bed will be for Mary to sleep in and that she will get to live with us.
- I will let him help me build up the bed
- We'll go shopping for babystuff together and he will get to chose some clothes for her
- I am trying to find some suitable book to read to him in preparation
- He has dolls he likes to play with - I'll engage him more with them while talking about what we will have to do with Mary, once she's here
These my ideas/plans so far. Does anyone have any input?
I'd also appreciate tips for the first weeks with the baby, to make it easier for him to get used to her and avoid too much jealousy. He'll be allowed to help a lot, of course. My daughter, whos a teenager, will also help out (more) with her brother during the first time, so that I can get used to handling a newborn again.