Preparing the darndest things
Nov. 21st | Posted by Nicky
15 comments
These are the tiniest underwear I have seen in my life.
Some things are a little different preparing for babies coming home through adoption vers from the hospital. For one thing, the kids aren’t a reliable size. You don’t know how far along they are in their development – and, you need to be prepared for the darndest things.
Let’s start with the darndest things! One our baby shopping list are things like:
- lice shampoo and combs
- chewable vitamins
- super itsy-bitsy Disney Princess underwear (the only brand that makes a size small enough to fit them -thanks for the tip Sheri!)
- parasite meds
- voice recordable teddy bears (to send to them when we get through court)
- a whole box of hairbands, hair combs, barrettes and beads
We also are arranging for things like
- finding a pediatric dentist
- getting an appointment for assessment at the local child development centre
- going over files with the doctor
- leaving our animals and home for 2 weeks
- connecting with a diaper service – they probably will regress in this department
- watching parenting / discipline / adoption related videos from the AFABC
We’ve started buying some basic clothing too, like undies and sleepers and PJs and some shirts and sweaters. My MIL is also raiding the second hand store where she volunteers.
Luckily, we’ve had some wise advice about sizing from people in the know… the girls are (on average) 33 inches tall but only weigh 21 lbs. By height, they wear 2-3T clothes. By weight? 12-18 months. They are basically all belly but don’t have any meat on them. So we’re aiming for 2-3T shirts and dresses, and 18month to 2 year pants. Seriously! And those bottoms may be too big. They probably won’t grow much before we pick them up – but typically when they get to Canada, they should grow like weeds. A nice family who adopted twin girls about the same age in the spring of lat year told us their girls had each put on 10 lbs since March! Wow. 21-31 lbs is a big jump. So they won’t be in those 18 month pants for very long.
As far as toys go, even… we just don’t know where they are at. So the toys we have are a mix of 2,3,4 year old appropriate things – and we’ll just have to slowly go through them with the girls and see what they can manage and what is too much. We actually don’t have many toys at all… they probably won’t need many at first and we figure we can always add along the way.
Of course, like all parents, there is also a lot of self reflection involved in preparation. One thing I’m feeling already is that we won’t be the type of parents who are concerned that their kids aren’t meeting their development milestones “on time”. Heck, we don’t have a “time”. We don’t know exactly how old they are! So we’ll just jump off wherever we start up.
The other thing I am sensing, though, is we will be the very involved and proactive types. I think being an advocate for our girls, so they have access to the best resources, is important - be it a speech pathologist or good nutrition or their own library cards.
I guess part of becoming a parent is that you learn and grow yourself!
“voice recordable teddy bears” – I just added that to My List. How exciting to read about all your preparations and shopping and planning. Sizing boggles my mind. It sounds like you’ve received great advice on that score. You are both going to be such wonderful parents to your two little girls.
I have learned more about myself parenting Sofia for the last 6 months than I learned about myself in the last 9 years of working in my job. Being a parent brings out the good the bad and the ugly! You learn a lot about the person you are and the person you wish you were. Consequently, I’ve been working on some self improvement in the last few months. Surprisingly the areas I feel I’m struggling in are things that have come up in my yearly job evaluations … Luckily, I have a husband and a Daddy for Sofia to help balance me out! He is good in the areas where I’m lacking.
Hey! Would you be able to PM me? Have a few things I’d like to chat with you about. My email is _____
Thanks!
Steph
Hi Nicky! Did you find a voice recordable teddy bear? I’ve been looking in our area, and haven’t been able to find anything.
Hi Emily – we got our from http://www.simplygifted-gifts.com .
They haven’t arrived yet though
My son is similar to your girls. Tall and skinny. The best invention in the WORLD is adjustable waisted pants. Many different companies make then, but I have found GAP brand to be the most durable and the adjustable waist does not slip like on some brands (JOE was really bad for slipping, as was Bolini). My son literally wore the same pair of pants from 8 months to 2 years old because I could adjust the pants so much. Much more wear for your dollar. ESpecially since your girls are going to be changing so much, so fast.
Good luck getting ready!
Don’t forget the stuff to combat the dreaded fungus, just in case.
Oh, yes – the dreaded fungus!
Adjustable waistbands are great, however, for Adonias they were still too loose, so we folded the waistbands over and that worked great until now he is finally fitting into his size 2 clothes at 32-33 months of age.
Adjustable waistbands are great. Our Owen is built like a long tube- he’s gonna be one tall dude! We’re going to start ordering the slim fit stuff from Land’s End. They sell at Sears but don’t carry enough of the product in the store so we’ll use the catalogue for him.
ahh, the waist bands!! My guys are all skinny minis around the waist. elasticized waist bands, adjust ables (though they are often still to big) sometimes just takinging them in a little on the sides with a few stitches is the surest bet to avoid that cute lil’ plumbers bum. Better yet, overalls, dresses, jumpers!
I love that you guys have access to a support group! Yet another reason why I miss the okanagan(we were in Naramata for years) I guess we need to seek out fellow adoptive parents in other ways.
My son is going to be tall and skinny as well, at 17 months he is nearing 2 foot 8 inches in height and currently weighs 19 lbs. I am also wrestling with clothing sizes as he is likely too tall for a large amount of the infant-toddler clothes that I purchased, prior to receiving his referral. I, too, will look into pants with adjustable waist bands. Thanks.
Hiya, it all sounds so fantastic! I can probably get you some clothes from my sister who had 2 girls but is now having a boy, although only in Vancouver these kids were also very belly/no bum so the range of clothing sizes might be good. I’ll be up your way just before Christmas… LV xo
Sounds great, Lisa! We’d love to se you….
You know you are an adoptive parent when you get excited about buying lice cream and parasite meds.
For the toys, the young end of the spectrum is probably a good plan. My son at age 4 was fascinated by baby toys and played with those and toddler toys for a while, gradually moving up to age-appropriate stuff.
Take some big safety pins with you too. Shortening pants, taking in waistbands… they come in very handy.