When Caroline was less than a month old, I discovered a mess. Two of them actually. Within seconds of each other. And Caroline wasn’t the culprit.
You see, I always sit on the couch to nurse our babies. And when one of our babies is teeny tiny (i.e. less than a month old) these nursing sessions can take a long time. At least 40 minutes. When Caroline was born, Kate was only 14 months old, so she was really just a baby herself. I usually didn’t have a problem with her while I was nursing Caroline. We had a nursing box (box of toys that she was only allowed to play with while I nursed) and we’d snuggle on the couch and watch tv. Sometimes she’d play in the family room in front of me and sometimes she wander to other parts of the house. She never went far and if I called her, she immediately came back.
Well on this particular day, I had just finished nursing Caroline and was wondering where Kate was. I could hear her but hadn’t seen her. I put Caroline down and headed into the kitchen. We have a drawer that we keep pizza coupons and plastic bags in. And this is what I found.:
Kate had gone into the drawer to get a bag for some toys. Then got another bag. And another. You get the picture? Eventually she stopped using them for toys and just started pulling them all out. Always trying to be in the moment, I took a pic, giggled, and cleaned them up. Kate helped for a few seconds and wandered off.
As soon as I was done, I went back to the family room (which is connected to the kitchen and is only a few feet away). And this is what I found there:
Another box of bags had been conquered by Kate!
Now at 14 months, Kate was extremely verbal. Like using 6-8 word sentences verbal. Which was very convenient when you have a new baby – no guessing with both of the girls. Anyway, I asked Kate what she was doing and her reply was something along the lines of she needed a place to put her toys. It was then that I realized that I depended on plastic bags way too much: crayons, small toys, snack, etc. And Kate noticed it. So the first snack bags began.
