My first baby didn't roll over until she was seven months old, making her the last one in Mommy & Me to hit that milestone. (And oh, how I worried … for nothing.) So I was surprised to find my second baby rolling in both directions at just three months. Looking back, I credit benign neglect. I was so busy interacting with my high maintenance preschooler that the new baby spent a ton of time on the floor, just exploring. Is it any wonder she figured out how to roll?
It turns out second babies experience a lot of things sooner, which certainly keeps a mom on her toes. Steel yourself, because here's what your second one will probably do early:
1. Catch a Cold There's not enough hand sanitizer in the world to shelter that second baby from the onslaught of kid germs. I recently caught my 4-year-old with her finger in the baby's mouth. ("She likes it," was her defense.) It's awful hearing your precious infant cough and sneeze, but hopefully the virus will be mild and you'll be one step closer to building up Baby's immunities.
RELATED: Why the Second Baby is Awesome
2. Watch TV Wow, did I pat myself on the back for waiting the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommended two years before giving my first baby any screen time. Now that we're all sharing a living room, it's nearly impossible to shield Baby No. 2 from the TV. I wonder if the AAP would give a special dispensation for Doc McStuffins.
3. Eat Ice Cream If I remember correctly, when babies start solids, it goes rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, bananas, hot fudge sundae, yes? Try as you might to stay on track with Baby's nutrition, it's inevitable that hungry little monkeys are going to want to partake in the older kids' snacks—especially anything cold and sweet.
Second babies will be exposed to all kinds of messy substances such as sand, mud and Elmer's glue, which you should totally embrace
4. Get a Boo-Boo A mom's laser vision is compromised when one eye is watching a big kid jump off a swing set while a little baby just learning to sit slowly, falls over. Pack Band-Aids.
5. Go Swimming Some pediatricians say to wait until six months, because pools are full of germs and chemicals, but when you spend an entire summer taking an older child to swim lessons and it's 95 degrees out, things happen.
6. See a Movie The big one has been counting the days until the new Pixar movie comes out. The little one will hopefully sleep through it … or be traumatized for life. Good luck!
RELATED: McDonald's Menu Announcement is a Game-Changer for Moms
7. Get Dirty After dragging her to a 5-year-old's birthday party, I noticed my baby was covered in glitter. I like to pretend it was organic glitter. Second babies will be exposed to all kinds of messy substances such as sand, mud and Elmer's glue, which you should totally embrace (see no. 1: building up immunities.)
Thanks in no small part to their older brothers and sisters, second babies are quite precocious. Although, I hear the one thing they tend to do later than their siblings did is talk—probably because it's tough to get a word in edgewise.
Photograph by: Amy Wruble
