Unsolicited Advice
Many new parents groan at the onslaught of unsolicited advice they receive from mostly strangers. However, advice from friends and family can be very helpful (sometimes). Please post any advice you may have for the parents-to-be in the comments section below. This may include books you have found useful, good parenting blogs/websites, tips on how to survive the early days, products that were useful, etc. You could also include some of the worst unsolicited parenting advice you received as a new parent!
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I was told by a pharmacist at CVS not to give 10 month old Kate Diet Coke. I am sure you know that.....right? Just in case: Don't give him Diet Coke.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. He's gonna drink Mountain Dew and eat Cheetos, like a proper nerd.
DeleteWhen Celina was born your Uncle Sam walked her for hours on end while I slept.
ReplyDeleteI plan on walking, driving, and whatever else is needed with the little guy to let Donna get rest when she needs it! Thanks for writing!
DeleteThey smell so good and "earthy" when they are just born that you may want to eat them but don't. Just nibble a toe or ear.
ReplyDeleteYour father was sorely tempted to build a train track inside the house so that he could put first Stephen, then you on the train and send you round and round the house so we could have a somewhat sane meal time. Instead he gave you both high-speed shoulder rides to the tune of the pressure cooker that made mealtimes possible. I still remember that potatoes take 8 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI'm mentally planning a giant habitrail, like for hamsters, except for babies. He can crawl through tubes that go through the whole house, and maybe fall out into a giant ball pit, like they've got at McDonalds
DeleteTake long or short naps whenever you can. Now and later. It is so easy to put yourself on the back burner. Things take longer so it is helpful to minimize the # of things on your list. I know "good enough" isn't in your vocabulary, but it is a worthy thing to practice
ReplyDeleteSelf expression is very important to boys. Therefore, make sure that when you expose his warm belly to a cool room, cover up so you are not part of his celebratory shower.
ReplyDeleteFor those applying cloth diapers to boys, the fold goes in the front.
Later you will have to teach him to write his name in the snow (and bring him north to issue him snow).
When Daniel was learning toilet tinkle, he was also mastering personal pronouns.
"Daniel, do you have to urinate?"
"Yes, I have to 'myinate'."
So, success was listening to him 'hisinate'.
I'm sure there are a thousand things that will be upcoming that I haven't even remotely thought of, and this is (was) one of them. Hopefully I can teach him not to fall in, when the time comes!
DeleteOrganize your take-out menu folder. Now. Go to the movies together. Swear a lot. Go out at night. Have a really fancy dinner at home with your finest table settings and candles. Then put them away. Play really loud music. Read a book. Go to a really nice restaurant. Browse boutiques and record shops. Go into Crate and Barrel. Or Williams Sonoma. Or anywhere with stuff that breaks.
ReplyDeleteYour lives are about to change for the better, but some of these things will not happen very often for another 5 years or so. Did I forget anything?
My recommendations for the first few months:
ReplyDeleteRead The Happiest Baby on the Block and remind me to send you a copy of the white noise CD! Swaddle, Swaddle, Swaddle.
Don't use a swing: they will get addicted and then you are helpless without it.
Steal a "chuck" from the hospital. They are thick quilted waterproof pads they put on your bed. They are awesome for sponge bathing the baby on your bed or for middle of the night diaper changes. Steal 2.
Baby PJs count as clothes. Your PJs do, too. That said, dress him and yourself up real nice one day a week and go into public. It feels good.
Never wake a sleeping baby no matter what anyone says.
Wear him in a sling etc when you go grocery shopping. Don't fool with putting a baby seat into a cart. Old people will just hover over them and infect them with something, anyway. If they are on you, you can shield them. I would wear my nursing cover over the sling and then they would be warm and undercover.
Stay away from the intertubes. Call me instead :-)
XOXOX