Parenting 101

I realized this week that we have quite a few friends that are expecting babies, some very soon, others have a little while, some having their first, and others adding a little brother or sister. It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that we were waiting for Kinley to join our family and filled with anxiety and concern about how to care for a baby. Since I watch Kinley spend a large portion of her day parenting her many babies and animals, I thought I might share some of her tips.

The task you will probably perform most often is of course the diaper change. I decided to let Kinley have a diaper for her baby one day and was rather impressed with how well she put it on the baby. Now, according to Kinley's parenting style, it really doesn't matter which way the diaper goes, she thinks it is easiest to just wrap it around the baby's waist as shown below. This is of course a very quick way to apply the diaper, however, a warning, this will do nothing to catch the mess.
One of my favorite things was to get Kinley all swaddled up in a blankie and sit and hold her. Swaddling is quite a fine art and takes some practice. Of course you start by spreading the blanket out on the floor, couch, or bed. Kinley can do this quite well. She actually likes to use at least 2 blankets, but prefers 3. Her swaddling leaves a lot to be desired and quite frankly I think if her babies were real, they would have suffocated a long time ago. She usually just puts 2 blankets under them and one smashed on their face.
Something important you should remember, babies are kind of fragile. According to Kinley, you can just manhandle them and when you need one of their blankies it is perfectly acceptable to just rip it out from under them. Another warning, doing this makes your baby flop all over, I do not recommend this technique. You will notice in this picture Kinley is trying to take care of 2 "babies" so she probably just got flustered. I mean, look, she had to stop mid diaper change to rip the blanket out from under her other baby...that's tough to manage.
And everybody's favorite, babies need to be rocked. Again, Kinley is demonstrating some poor technique. Your newborn will need some sort of support for its head, we do not recommend that you just flail it over your shoulder and spin in very fast circles with it. If you look in the background, poor little Mickey Mouse is being suffocated with a blanket and merely has his little feet sticking out. Is there a "Doll Protective Services", if so, please don't rat Kinley out, she'll be devastated if they take her children away.
And the last thing parents need are good babysitters. Here is a picture of Kinley having Rich babysit Mickey and Raffey...apparently he fell asleep on the job. He came home for lunch, took a rest on the couch, was bombarded with animals and blankets to babysit, and I guess it just wore him right out. Kinley must have thought her babies looked like they were having fun snuggling with daddy so she joined in.
We are very excited for all of our friends and their growing families and we can't wait to see your new arrivals. And, if you need a babysitter, Kinley is available and up for the task.