Just after he hit his three-month milestone, our Little Buddy made a very exciting accomplishment. He rolled over from his back to his stomach! He has always enjoyed lying on his back and kicking at the toys hanging from his activity gym. He showed no interest in rolling over, until one day he randomly started trying. He would hoist himself up on his side and then fall back down. After a day of attempting (he is a very persistent little boy, like his daddy) he finally made it happen.
Mr. Handsome wasn’t home when Little Buddy flipped for the first time, but when he returned home, we put him on the carpet on his back so he could show Daddy his new trick. We were cheering him on like he was an Olympic athlete. (Life sure changes when you’re a parent–who would have thought that rolling over would be so exciting?) It took him another day to figure out how to pull his arms up and prop himself up. At one point, he rolled from his front to back, but he has only done that once.
Now, when we put him down, all he wants to do is flip. A few days ago, he rolled several times in a row, but he usually just flips to his stomach and then gets upset and starts crying.
The downside of having a roller on our hands is that I can no longer place him on the couch or in the middle of our bed while I run and grab something. Our living room is hardwood, so I’ll need to purchase a rug or mat of some kind so he has a safe place to play. And it’s time to buy a baby gate for the top of our stairs!
Jessica
Yay! It’s fun and exciting when they are mobile. I love all stages but there’s nothing like the newborn stage. It doesn’t last that long at all.
My son is 2 months old so I’m sure he will start rolling over in a few weeks. We don’t put him on the floor that much because he has five siblings and they love him so much, they can’t leave him alone for a minute.
All of the new things they learn is exciting. We never get over baby smiles and cooing, no matter how many times we’ve seen it and heard it.
Ellie
LOL, I can imagine he must get overwhelmed at times. Since you’re an experienced mom, can I ask how you handle germs? Do you allow your kids to give your newborn babies kisses on the face and do things of that nature? I was thinking about that the other day and how we will handle it with additional children. Even simple colds can put newborns in the hospital, so it makes me nervous. Any tips would be much appreciated.
Ellie
anonymous
I’m not the person who you are asking but I just thought that you should get closer to kids that come in than your child does. That way you pick up their germs and form immunity to pass on to your baby. So let them kiss you, finish their spitty ice cream cones, let them wipe their little noses on your clothes, eat up the rest of the foods on their plates, you get the idea. But really consider that you are the person in charge of the situation. It does not have to be a free for all on your small children. You’ve got to train the children to be as obedient as dogs. If you say sit they sit, if you say stay they stay, if you say come they come, if you say shake a paw they shake your paw, but if the baby rolls over, you watch!
Ellie
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 🙂
MarriedUK
Huh? But they’re not dogs. They are people. Empathy is learnt by love and example.
I was told by the doctor that you can’t control germs from siblings to babies but to keep any other ill people away
Anonymous
Train children to be as obedient as dogs???
Anonymous
This is a little bizarre to me, children are not like dogs. Besides this, I teach my daughter not to eat food from others plates and no kisses from anyone but myself and my husband, I do hope you ask the parents permission before doing all these things, some people are not ok with this
Jessica
My children do seem to get sick alot. They share their germs alot and it’s almost impossible keeping them away from each other.
My baby is two months old, but before he was two months old his siblings had a stomach virus that lasted for like three weeks. They’ve had strep throat, coughs and colds. It’s been alot of germs. But the baby hasn’t gotten sick. Praise the Lord.
If one of my children are sick, I try to keep them away from the baby as much as possible. They aren’t allowed to kiss him or anything. If my other children are sick, I have to take care of them and the baby, but I try not to kiss the baby, even though it’s hard. I was also sick but I just made sure I washed my hands good. With the stomach virus, it was really hard. I washed my hands so much trying to keep the germs away from the baby. So I think what has works for us is just making sure if the older kids are sick they stay away from the baby as much as possible. We don’t live in a big house so it just means not kissing or holding him. And they really don’t hold him much but they like to get in his face and talk to him. Which isn’t allowed if they are sick.
It seems like when a baby is born the siblings have cold or something. I don’t want them to miss out on seeing their sibling so I let them see the baby. I think breastfeeding helps alot.
But when they are older they share germs alot. And if one child is sick normally they all get sick within days.
I’m not sure I answered your question. I might have just rambled on. It’s hard to focus sometimes.
Ellie
Thanks for sharing, Jessica! That’s helpful. I had the stomach flu a few weeks ago, and it was hard. Baby didn’t get it though. I agree that breastfeeding is a big help with the immune system.
Ellie
Lydia
I have 4 kids and I have to add that, although the older children pass colds etc. among themselves and to my husband and I and vice versa, our breastfed infants have avoided A LOT just by virtue of being breastfed and getting millions of environment-specific antibodies from my breastmilk. So while it’s nerve-wracking to think of your young baby getting sick, remember that if he/she can get that liquid gold from you, it goes a long way!!! I can personally attest to how powerful the antibodies in breastmilk are.
Vicki L Benton
I remember how exciting that was for me when my kids rolled over for the first time…just wait until one day you turn around and he is standing up! Exciting times ahead…yep, its time for the baby proofing
Ellie
That will be such an exciting day! But we have a lot of work to do to babyproof before that happens.
Ellie
Anonymous
When it comes time to babyproof, get down on your stomach or knees and crawl around your house. Look for every little thing that tiny fingers might find. You’ll be surprised how much loose stuff lurks at ankle and knee height that you never noticed. You know those rubber tips on door stops? They come off……. Strings on blinds have to go. Tablecloths and runners can get pulled down by a corner. Toilet seats need to be locked down. Get ready to fish things out of your floor vents. It’s like having a really really smart puppy or kitten in the house! LOL
Ellie
Great idea! Definitely don’t want him drinking out of the toilet. Lol.
Anonymous
Ha – it’s not the drinking you need to watch out for, it’s the flushing of toys and things. Kids can drown in that much water if they fall in face first, too. A bucket of water is just as dangerous.
MarriedUK
I have never baby proofed anything. Baby gates cause more accidents than you can imagine- the little folk get quite good at getting over them…
Anonymous
Use the baby gates for as long as you can. The first sign that you have a climber, that’s when they can come down…or get higher. Don’t forget to block stair railings, too. Kids can squeeze between them. My husband installed solid clear acrylic sheets cut to size (fit solidly across the railings, with the edges sanded) and that solved that. You could still see thru but nobody could get thru. You could hardly notice the acrylic because it was so clear. He drilled holes thru the acrylic and used plastic zip ties to attach the sheets to the railings. When the sheets were ready to come down, we just cut the zip ties and no harm done to the wood railing. Works for kids or pets.
Anonymous
I didn’t babyproof either…I liked my decorated home like it was…plants and all on the floor…it took just a few times of discipline when they got into something and they learned in a hurry they couldn’t do and pull everything off and down etc. they learn in a hurry too with plants, you just have to stay consistent and not fall down on the job of training. You will be rewarded for it. One of the rewards of consistent training is when you go to a friends house. They know they can’t get into plants, decor, cabinets etc. So why even try? I had an easy time as a young mama when we were at peoples houses with a well behaved child (doing her quiet thing) watching some of the other parents running after their children straight time, “don’t get into this, don’t get into that” “no,no,no” (in panic voices). That is so stressful and I wanted to be relaxed instead. Yep it’s so much easier when you do your training at home!
Anonymous
Just wait til your “roller” is rolling down the road behind the wheel of your car all by himself. It’s coming faster than you know…
Ellie
Oh my! That’s a crazy thought. 🙂
Anonymous
Congratulations on Little Buddy rolling. You put couple of blankets down on the live room floor and little Buddy could roll on them.
Anonymous
Also have hardwood flooring, we purchased those foam puzzle piece tiles for our daughter when she was on the floor and mobile. We also used a playpen type thing, you can use inside and outside, for if we needed to use the bathroom and such
Ellie
Where did you get your playpen from?
MarriedUK
I never used a playpen because my babies didn’t like them but I wouldn’t worry about the toilet- just take them with you!
Anonymous
I bought ours on Amazon, my cousin found one with a nice shade to go outside with! They are slightly bigger than playpens were when I was little and very portable!
This is exactly what we bought:
https://www.amazon.com/Regalo-Portable-Playard-Outdoor-Washable/dp/B072BPGW6F/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3JZIGZX9B4IIY&keywords=play+yard+with+canopy&qid=1556033176&s=gateway&sprefix=play+ya%2Caps%2C664&sr=8-3
Ellie
Thanks for sharing! Looks like a great one. 🙂
OhioMama
All the things that are so small and easy for us, seem so much more important when your baby/child does it. I never thought I’d be excited for a person to go on the toilet until I became a Mom. My 3 year old has been potty trained for 6 months now and I’m so happy. Yes I was cheering him on like an athlete too when we started on it and made a huge deal out of it every time. But I do miss the newborn stage and can’t wait until I have my next baby boy next month.
Ellie
Very exciting, OhioMama! Do you have a name picked out? You don’t have to share it. Just wondering if choosing one came easy. It wasn’t easy for us. We were still talking about it on the way to the hospital. Haha
OhioMama
Yes, when we were pregnant with our 1st we had two boy names picked out. We went with the name I wanted in honor of my Grandfathers. This time we are going with the name my husband wanted and he will be named after my husband’s best friends that are like his brothers. We never could find a girls name that we loved
Ellie
That’s funny! We were the opposite. Had such an easy time with girl names but a hard time with boy names.
OhioMama
Going with family names made it easier, plus me always having my heart set on naming a son after my grandfathers helped. Idk what we will do if we have another baby and it’s a boy. All though that will be a few years from now
Regina Shea
They are so cute when they learn to roll over!
Anonymous
So sweet!! Little Buddy is just the cutest!❤️
KDavis
Yay, congrats for Little Buddy rolling, that’s always super exciting! It’s one thing after another when it comes to excitement with kids. I have a 7 month and a 2 yr old. They both are doing new things constantly that I’m stoked about!
I don’t envy you for having to baby gate the stairs. We have a one story and that is probably the only reason I’m grateful to not have stairs. I would always be so nervous.
I wanted to chime in about the germs and kissing. My older really likes to kiss the baby on the head. She almost never goes for the face or mouth, and if she accidentally gets a mooch on the mouth from the baby she gets grossed out by the slobber.
I think germs inside the family aren’t so bad, it’s the strangers/extended family kissing on the mouth you have to worry about 🤭
Anonymous
I agree, stranger germs are pretty bad. If your kids are sick alot then you should try to keep kissing to a minimum, at least when they are sick.
Anonymous
So sweet! Little Buddy is just the cutest!
Lauren
Wanted to throw this out regarding older kids and germs. Last winter, we had a really bad flu season where I live. My youngest was only a few months old at the peak and every child in my daughters class got the flu – except her. As soon as she got home from school, we would throw her in the shower and get her clean clothes. But babies will get sick. My little guy had the yucky stomach stuff at 10 months. When that happens, I suggest a big Rubbermaid tub next to cribs for catching vomit.
B
We never use buckets by are beds we had towels laying over us and if we felt sick we get up and run to the bathroom . Also the towels was their incase we couldn’t make it to the bathroom we get sick in the towel.
M
I was luck because when I was little I never have strep throat, never have Tonsils taking out. I had the flu a couple of times but my sisters never got it from me.