Preparing Two Year for New Sibling

M.:
with all mine, I talked about the baby,and most importantly, when baby was born, let the child know this was "her" brother. I literally said "This is your baby, too. Here, hold him." Mine held the baby whenver they wanted to,helped with whatever they wanted to, and felt apart of baby's life. You will need to realize that you are not going to be able to give the kind of time to the 2nd that you did the 1st. That is ok. I often interrupted nursing to get 1st what was needed. Baby didn't know why I was doing it, but 1st knew that baby was reason he wasn't getting what he needed. I did not have much sibling rivalry until they were older.All mine accepted the babies.

When we were expecting our twins, our son was almost 2 and a half when we found out. So, I decided to buy him twin baby dolls ($5 each at Super Walmart- stuffed with bean bag stuffing). He loved them. We called them Baby Brother and Baby Sister (at the time we didn't know what we were having- I was right by the way). He took them everywhere. We used them as a tool to teach him how to be gentle with babies- no eye poking, no fingers in ears, mouth etc. It worked very well. When the twins were born he was very gentle and loving with them.
Hope this helps.
L.

i dont have much advice for preparing for baby the best thing i can tell you is that when the baby comes home make sure the 2 1/2 year old can help, kids that age love to bring you things for the baby, ie: diapher, clothes or toy.......good luck and Congrats

Also you mentioned about playdate, i run a playgroup we are in lake mary area not far, so far we have two moms from oviedo and many others about 11 kids togther. We have kids from 3 months to 4 and a half years, you are more than welcomed to come and meet everyone we meet on fridays and also have a moms night out every month. in the moms night out we see chick flicks and do dinner or activities....let me know if your interested.
Thanks
A.

i dont know if this will help any, but its worth a try. i have 3 girls, all of which are 2 years apart. i never did anything with any of them to prepare them for the next baby. i did tell them that mommy has a baby in her tummy, and that she would be getting a new baby sister. i don't know if that helped prepare them but they were always so excited when they got to see the new baby. they never tried to hurt the baby. what we did after i had the babies was when they came to visit in the hospital i would let them sit on the bed with me and they would hold the baby. and i also let them hold her when we were at home. Just let your daughter hold the new baby (with you watching of course) and let your daughter help with things involving the new baby. Ask her to get you a diaper when your changing him, let her help you pick out an outfit for him. And most importantly make time for just you and your daughter. so she doesnt feel like she isnt as important to you anymore. i hope this helps some.