Hellobee

As Mr. H works most Saturdays from spring through fall, I’m home solo with all three kids! To say that I was wildly intimidated by this is an understatement. I mean, I know plenty of other people have heavier loads than an easy going set of infant twins and an upbeat, active toddler. And they’re my children whom I obviously love and don’t spend a lot of time with during the week. But I was still insanely nervous about my first full day solo with all of them.

We made it outside to enjoy the warm weather!

Now that I have quite a few of these solo days under my belt, they are much more fun than stressful. I’m not adventurous enough yet to take all three of them out anywhere like the grocery store or on a play date, but I do manage to get all of us out for a neighborhood walk. At the end of these long days (Mr. H will leave for the day anywhere between 9am-noon and get home around midnight), I feel like I’ve managed to give everyone a good amount of attention, I’ve kept the house relatively picked up with of the dishes done, everyone has gotten outside for some fresh air and activity, and all three kids have taken their afternoon nap at the same time.

My first attempt at successfully getting us all out for a walk!

And, my biggest accomplishment to date: I’ve not yet needed to give Miss H any screen time to occupy her while I’m focused on the twins. However, I wouldn’t be able to make this happen without some important pieces of “survival gear.” These tools help encourage Miss H’s independence and help keep her occupied with different activities.

1. Puj PhillUp Cup: I’ve been having Miss H practice filling up her cup from the fridge’s water dispenser. So this cup by Puj is perfect. Anytime she wants water she can go and grab this cup, conveniently hanging on the front of the fridge, and get herself some water. When she’s done, she puts it back. It feels special to her and keeps it accessible so even if I’m in the middle of a diaper change she can get herself a drink.

2. Do a Dot Art Markers: I can’t always start up elaborate (read: messy) art projects while home with all of the kids. Miss H can’t quite be trusted with paints and brushes on her own. However, these dot markers are perfect. There’s very little mess (as long as she keeps to stamping them on the paper, which we talk about a lot), and when she’s done we simply put the caps back on. With no set up and no clean up, they’re easy for parents but Miss H still feels like she’s working on an art project.

3. Dropcams: We long ago ditched a traditional monitor and instead have installed Dropcams throughout our house: in Miss H’s room, the twins’ room, our kitchen, and in our basement play area. This serves a multitude of purposes when I’m home solo as I can view all of the cameras from my iPhone. During the twins’ morning nap I can take Miss H outside to play but still easily keep tabs on the twins. When I’m in the twins’ room giving them bottles and Miss H is playing I can keep tabs on what she’s doing in her room or in the kitchen. And because I’m starting to encourage her to play more independently I will let her play in the basement while I’m in the kitchen making food or washing dishes, but I can still keep an eye on what she’s up to.

4. Magna-Tiles: When the twins were born we had them “give” Miss H this set of Magna-Tiles. I chose this gift primarily because I felt like it would be a good activity for her to play with independently. These have gotten so much use since October and are a definite favorite in our house! Miss H loves building with them and her imagination runs wild. And because they’re so easy to build with she doesn’t need an adult to help her – she builds huge towers all on her own.

5. Bitty Baby: For Christmas Miss H really wanted Santa to bring her a baby doll, and lucky her, Santa did just that! Miss H has named her “Apple” and it’s been incredibly helpful for Miss H to have her own baby. She’ll feed her baby when I’m giving the twins bottles, and for her birthday she received a carrier so that she can wear her baby around. It’s fun to see her mimic things I do with the twins: burping, feeding, rocking, etc.

6. Sands Alive!: On a whim I picked up this Sands Alive! set. It’s another activity that is fun and exciting to Miss H, but doesn’t create a lot of mess or require any set up or extensive clean up. We save it for special occasions (i.e. when I’m solo parenting) so that she still gets excited when we get it out.

7. Jump-A-Roo & Exersaucer: And, of course, I can’t constantly hold two babies at once and since the babies have become rolling machines, I can no longer leave them unattended on a blanket. They no longer happily play, they roll across the room! Having two of these “baby containment devices” in a central area (for us, our living room) is critical to my being able to successfully solo parent! Because while Miss H is becoming incredibly self sufficient she still, of course, needs my full attention quite often during the day!

It doesn’t get any cuter than Miss H wearing her baby!

What tools help you when you’re caring for both older and younger children?