When you are the parent of an infant and a toddler, you may sometimes feel like your toddler does not get enough one on one time with you. For that matter, you may also wonder whether your infant notices that he does not get much one on one time with you and how he might feel about that. I know that I have struggled with these feelings since Blake was born a couple of months ago.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have developed a strategy for spending some “alone” time with each of the boys while I am at home with both of them. I made some changes to the way that I eat, and Blake has been napping beautifully for a few hours each day. In the past, if I would try to remove him from the baby sling and place him in a Moses basket or infant seat to nap he would awaken quickly and insist on being back in the sling. Now, he naps more deeply and does not awaken when I transfer him into his Moses basket or the infant seat. I like to use the basket because I can bring it to wherever Dylan and I decide to go in our house or in our yard.
Blake’s nap times have become my one on one time with Dylan. After Dylan goes to bed in the evening, Blake usually wakes up for about an hour, so I can spend time focusing my attention on him. The things that Dylan chooses for us to do vary widely from going outside and kicking a soccer ball or playing catch to hanging out together and just talking. Sure, he’s only two and a half, but toddlers are very interesting conversationalists. Today, we spent some quality time hanging out in the front yard in the hammock as Blake napped in his basket nearby. We talked and talked, and then we talked some more. When Dylan got hungry we all went inside and I made a smoothie for a snack. Then, we ran around in the living room and batted around a beach ball for a little bit. When Blake woke up, the three of us went about our afternoon together and I felt grateful for having had the opportunity to enjoy Dylan for a while. I can only hope that he enjoyed our one on one time as much as I did.