5 Things I Changed With Kid #2

Pacifiers Are Only For Sleep

My first son was hooked on his pacifier, we called it a pacey. I don't know why or how, but we heard that they were good to prevent SIDS, my mom approved of using them, so we used them. There wasn't much research behind them for either child. What I did learn from the first one is that he would wake up, seem q bit sleepy, so we'd let him keep the pacey in. Then before it was time for bed, we'd give it to him to get him in the mood for sleep. Then, we decided he could have it if we were out and in a new environment, etc; 

He ended up having pacey more than he didn't have it. It was very hard to get him to give it up and it hurts me now to look back and see so many pictures with a pacifier in his mouth. I'm not sure of the harmful effects for his speech or development, I just know that we didn't want our second child to be so dependent on the pacey.

So, as soon as son #2 would wake up from sleep, we'd take pacey. This became such a habit that as he got older(6 months) he would wake up and immediately hand it to us! 

Hide Lift-a-Flap Books

Not that there was anything wrong with the lift the flap books. They weren't harmful. I just realized that he wasn't in the developmental stage to be using them. When my one-year-old ripped a flap off the book, (totally normal, didn't get in trouble) I realized that I cared much more about the book than my kid being seen with a book. 

Now that my second son is 2 and is more careful with books, he sees the flaps ripped and asks why they are broken. (Boh-ken?) 

I just realized that he can gain that love of reading with regular board books that have more simple pictures and words. Then, the lift-a-flap books can be saved for when he is able to really appreciate them. 

This might just be a "me" thing. I'm sure there are many parents that would rather their babies play with any type of book, despite ruining it, as long as they can gain that love and appreciation for reading. 

Let My Kids Read My Bible

This is a new idea for me and seems totally opposite from the last point, so hold on. When my now five-year-old was three and four he loved to grab my Bible and turn the pages acting like he was reading it. This bothered me so much because I didn't want him to rip any pages or even bend them. Recently, he even pretended that he knew what it said and read, "You must baptize, do not be gone, do not die, do not die mama." Yes it did break my heart, so precious! But the point is that I didn't like it. I would take the Bible away from my sweet little boy who was gaining a habit of getting into the Word and gaining a love for reading the Bible over other books. I was recently enlightened at how wrong that was. My baby boy was taking an interest in the Word of God. Regardless of whether he could read it or not, he was practicing. So now, when my two-year-old turns three, I will let him flip through my Bible also. Maybe even now when he is two...maybe.