The Pros (and Cons) of Having 2 Kids Under 2 Years Old

Hey Fabbies! As many of you know I’m preparing for my big move to LA. Hence the lack of frequent posts. Anyway, as I was beginning to pack my suitcase today, both of my kids decided that they wanted to climb in the suitcase (half filled with shoes and clothes at this point), and sit down in it. They were just chilling and giggling like sitting in a suitcase was the best thing going. I let them sit there for a few minutes before ushering them out so I could finish filling the suitcase. Packing was interrupted a few more times because of them, and it got me to thinking that have 2 toddlers can keep one quite…busy.

I became pregnant with Vito when Ze was just 6 months old. Lots of people would tell me, “oh that’s good! Your kids will be close in age and be able to play together!” Umm, not much playing goes on with a 15 month old and a newborn. Ze would just look at him like, “What is going on with this tiny thing that makes noise??” She’d even poke him sometimes, as I think she thought he was a new toy lol. Now, when Vito began crawling and eventually walking, it was only then that they would begin playing together. And I mean let’s be honest, it’s only so much a crawling baby and a toddler can do together right? But even before the two of them could interact and play with each other, there were definitely other perks of having kids back to back, but there are definitely cons too! I’ve compiled a small list!

Pros:

•  Hand me downs! No matter if you have the same gender or not, there are definitely things that you’ve used with your firstborn, that you can use again with your 2nd. In my case, that includes blankets, cribs, shoes, neutral clothing, baby tubs, and so on! Whoop Whoop!
• The 2nd born may reach milestones a bit quicker, as they are trying to keep up with their older sibling. Now, this isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, but it’s sometimes just inevitable. In my case, Vito crawled at 5 months because he was trying to follow Ze around the house. He walked at 10 months, trying to keep up with Ze.  And as she learns new words and sentences, Vito is right there repeating the same words right along with her. He also has seen her go through potty training, so I’m hoping once I start him with that, he will pick it up pretty quickly.
• They do in fact, play together. As soon as Vito was walking well and could run, they have run around the house, terrorized each other, make up their own games, and so on. It’s really neat to watch them actually.
• They learn the importance of sharing at an early age. Daily I remind the both of them that it’s okay for the other one to play with his/her toy. (After all, the toys really belong to neither of them! The parents buy them! They’re OURS! Lol)

Double the cuddles, hugs, laughs, cries, and joy. 🙂