Sibling Class

This past weekend, Grammy & I took the kids downtown to Baylor All Saints Hospital (where I'll be delivering this time) for the Sibling Class, where Tanner & Tori got to learn all about new babies and how to be a good, helpful big brother and big sister. They had a blast!


Here they are on the elevator on the way into the hospital... just a little excited!



We found our classroom, met our fabulous instructor Mrs. Diane, put on our name tags and waited for all the kids to arrive. Once everyone arrived, she had them each choose a baby doll from the middle of the room.

After some introductions in which each child shared their name and whether they were having a baby brother or baby sister, they began their first task of learning how to diaper the babies:

Tori is hard at work... Tanner is already getting distracted :-/
The class busily works on their diapers as Mrs. Diane tries to get Tanner going on his...


After diapers, they worked on dressing their babies in a t-shirt:


And learned how to pick the baby up properly by supporting its head... awwww:

Little Mommy was soooo into this!

Tori listened so intently to everything the teacher said and just soaked it all in... it was adorable!

Next, they worked on swaddling the babies:

And practiced picking them up properly again:


After a short story about what to expect when the baby comes home...

they played a very clever game in which they learned what types of toys are acceptable to have around the baby and what types are not... this was a great teaching tool!
The instructor passed around a bag of toys and asked each child to choose one, then passed around an empty toilet paper roll. If the toy fit through the cardboard roll, it was too small to have around the baby. They talked about what types of toys would be good to play around the baby (stuffed animals, soft balls, books) and what types of activities (sing a song, tickle, read a book) would be good to do with their new brother or sister. Of course, Tanner was into this activity because he got to choose a race car (although he learned that it was too small to have around the baby)!

Next on the agenda, they moved to the art table to make cards for their baby siblings:
Tori was all over this project!

Tanner... not so much:
At this point, he was bored and kept saying he was tired and hungry... ha!

While the other kids finished up their artwork, I convinced Tanner to let me help him swaddle his baby doll and practice picking it up since he had not participated with the rest of class during that part. He obliged... and did a great job!



About the time we were finished swaddling Tanner's baby, it was time to line up for the grand finale... the hospital tour! All the kids excitedly lined up with their babies for the tour:


Mrs. Diane led us to the Labor & Delivery wing downstairs where we got to see a delivery room. After that, we headed upstairs to the Antepartum wing to see a Recovery room and then on to the nursery to see some new babies (all the rooms were very nice and spacious, with top notch amenities!). We were disappointed when we got to the nursery window and saw no babies, but as she was about to end the tour, in walked a nurse with a beautiful new baby in her arms! She came over to the window to show all the kids the beautiful, swaddled baby boy. He was precious, with a head full of dark hair and a beautiful complexion! I couldn't help but think, "Wow, this will be US in just a couple of months!"

As luck would have it, during the course of the tour, Tanner had hit it off with another little boy and they were having a grand old time together! Once we got back downstairs, they ran together back to the classroom, giggling and cutting up all the way.


Once back to the classroom, we ended the morning with light refreshments and by this time, Tanner and his new buddy were BFFs and he was having so much fun he didn't want to leave! Go figure. The other little boy was giving us his address and asking Tanner to come over to his house... we practically had to drag him out of there! LOL
It was cute.

All in all, I think this was a GREAT class to bring the kids to, they learned a lot and were able to see firsthand where Mom will be when the baby comes. I really appreciated the hands-on approach with the dolls and the tour and I think it was a great experience for them!

This girl is definitely ready... she cracks me up:


Now, hopefully we can make it through the next couple of months without the daily question, "When is our baby coming?" Only 86 more days to go... !!!