This morning, as I was wrestling my 2-year old to the floor to get him dressed for the day, I had a Baby Bunching flashback to the days when I had a 2 1/2-year old AND a 1-year old to wrestle into clothes - typically several times a day. The daily infant and toddler fashion show was exhausting enough - by the time both boys were old enough to be on the move and we threw a cat-and-mouse chase into the mix, the getting-dressed routine felt so insurmountable that I often considered staying home all day just so I didn't have to swap pajamas for playclothes.
Somewhere along the line, I learned a critical lesson that simplified things a little. Have EVERYTHING you need to dress the child right next to you so that once you finally pin him down, you can get him fully dressed - new diaper, clothes, socks/shoes, and yes - even brush teeth. Honestly, violating the no-shoes-in-the-house policy is worth sparing yourself the experience of tracking your toddler down 15 times a day to take shoes on and off.
To do this, it is helpful to have changing stations throughout the house, particularly if you have multiple levels. I had a changing station with not just diapers and wipes, but several extra outfits for each child (including socks) on each floor of my house. I'm not neccessarily talking a changing table - even just a changing pad tucked in a corner with diapers and clothes stashed in a basket or other container will do. And don't forget to tuck complete sets of toothbrushes for everyone at every sink in the house (including kitchen). You just want to spare yourself as many trips up and down (both off the floor and up the stairs) as you can.
Just be sure that when you finally pin everyone down to get ready for the day, it's AFTER they've eaten breakfast. Otherwise, you're gonna be doing it all over again in an hour....
I used to get little baby dressed as soon as she got up, we did the first diaper change and then got ready for the day. Haven't been doing that lately though, and I definitely have been chasing down each child to get them dressed and it is exhausting. Plus, add on chasing down my 3 year old every time he goes to the bathroom because he never, EVER puts his underpants or pants back on himself. On the to do list now... another changing station in the living room.
Posted by: Kelly | Sep 24, 2010 at 09:08 PM
There's a good moment of twin-benefit: every day I get to exclaim "the first boy that gets over here will get to pick his clothes!" and dodge the flying bodies.
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