The Art of Distraction

(taught to me by my 6 year old niece)

Mommy Monday

Parenting Tips From a 6 Year Old

Who would have guessed that my 6 year old niece (and my 22 year old brother-in-law) would be the ones to teach me my best new baby trick! Senna and I took our first flight on our own (more on that later) to go see my family in OC. It was such a fun trip!!! Poor baby girl HATED being in the car so much…. she’s used to those short SF drives not that Southern CA traffic haha!

The Art of Distraction

Everleigh, my niece, is a natural born entertainer. She just wants to make you smile, show off dance moves, and entertain you non-stop! She in-turn does this with her sister (who is 3 weeks older than Senna), and started doing it with Senna. We would be in the car and she’d go “BLAHHHH” a trick she learned from a Baby Einstein youtube video (hahahhaha). Making all sorts of funny noises to get the girls to take their minds off of being stuck in a car seat. It was endearing, of course, but also ***light bulb**** moment for me. My natural instinct was always to coo “It’ll be ok, we’re almost home” in a soft voice while in the car. Not to make loud silly sounds.

SCHOOLED BY MY 6 YEAR OLD NIECE!!!!!

I know that distracting Senna into thinking she’s happy often works. I do it when I’m changing her diaper, making it into a fun game and singing songs… she now loves diaper changes!! I do it when I’m putting her clothes over her head, she gets shocked and I’ll loudly go “WOW” “Oh my goodness” “Why helloooooo again there” type goofy phrases to make her startled self smile when she’s on the verge! There’s so many examples of times where I naturally did this. In the car was not one of them, and restaurants weren’t either!

SO MUCH DRIVING!

These toys were also a huge help!!!!! My sister has all the gadgets, what with it being kid #2 for her, and I learned a thing or two from her as well. So, I of course wanted to share this new found wisdom with all of you!!!

The Thing That Warmed My Heart The Most

Everleigh made Senna CRACK UP!!!! She would take a pool noodle and hand it to Senna sweetly. Let her play with it for a second or two while cooing at her, then pull it away making silly noises and dancing in an exaggerated fashion.

GIGGLES FOR DAYS!!!! LITERALLY.

Needless to say, Senna is obsessed with both her cousins and giggling up a storm these days. Which like most things she does, melts my heart completely.

Thanks for making such sweet, smiley, hysterical babies, Savannah!!!

With love,

Chantelle

With love,