My second son, Milo, is a very active 11 months now. He likes to climb, pull up, scoot all the time.
But that sort of gets in the way of my plans for him.
Our normal getting out of the car routine includes me bringing him inside the house, plopping him into the exersaucer or jumperoo (depending on what room of the house I want him to be in), and going back outside to fetch Holden from the car so we can wrestle with shoes, jackets, and stuff. I like Milo to be safely contained (and possibly entertained) while this is going on. But am I relying on these crutches too much?
Do I need switch things around and let the two-year old come in the house first? Should we all enter together and forget about the stuff? How old is too old for the exersaucer? Can I wait until he can climb out of it or tell me in words that he’s sick of it?
When I need to get stuff out of the car–or take the trash out, or any brief task that brings me out of the house for a minute or two–I put my one-year-old in his pack’n'play with a couple of books and toys. He wouldn’t sit in a jumperoo or exersaucer if his life depended on it…but there’s enough space in the PnP that he can move around, he hasn’t learned to climb out yet, and I feel that he’s safe. It gives me enough time to get groceries or whatever I need.
I have no idea what I’m going to do when I have another baby–probably forget about the stuff! I don’t know though!
I have a 1 and a 3 year old, and what I do is basically get my son out of the carseat and tell him to go to the door……then I pull out my little 1 year old, and grab what I can grab if I have anything to carry in, and head up to the door with her…….when we get in the house I deal with my littlest one first, and my 3 year old next. It seems to work well for me!
I get the baby out either first or last. I have four (all under 5 years old), and I have a remote lock to lock the doors since sometimes the car is unattended by going in and out. The baby goes right to the crib (car seat and all) and the toddler is trained to wait right inside the house. The older two walk with and help each other. Sometimes, I bring all of the “stuff” in first, and then get the kids out. I’ve stopped putting the baby in the bouncer or such just b/c the other kids might mess with him. Crib is the safest place for me. I think whatever works for you!
I take the 3 yo out of the car and tell him to go wait at the front door. Then I take the baby out and grab as many other things as I can. Once I get in the house, everything that is left in the car is just left, so it’s an imperfect system. The 3yo takes off his shoes and jacket while I hold the baby in the entryway. He is then verbally sent to go wash his hands, but if he gets distracted along the way, I just let it go while I deal with my own shoes and jacket. In the case of groceries, I put the baby in the crib sitting up with toys while I go back out to the car. The 3 yo goes wherever he likes in the house, so he is not an issue. My one tip is that he does really like watching out the front window, so I could probably keep him in one place by telling him to sit on the couch and watch me get the groceries out of the car. (This is only for folks like us who do not enter their house through an attached garage.)
Yeah. I usually do big kid first. Or I’ll do little one and then unbuckle big one and we all walk together.
Inside the house, I do the opposite and stick the little one in the exersaucer (well, I used to — not anymore…) and then go get the groceries or whatever else.