Unicorn baby solidified OAD

[samanthaadams]

I watched my niece (2.5 y/o) and I quickly remembered why I am OAD. It was sooo chaotic and hard watching both of them. My baby is seriously a unicorn baby. People tell me all of the time how I have the easiest baby ever, and I agree (he’s 7 months). He sleeps well, is generally happy, goes days without crying (I know his tired and hunger cues before he starts crying), and he’s happy to play on his own. Eats well, naps well, loves everyone. He’s also the smiliest, happiest baby and I genuinely love spending time with him. I watched my “spirited” niece this weekend, and holy moly was it a whirlwind. She’s so fun, and I love her, but I just don’t think I’m equipped to handle 2 kids. I just felt like I was not able to give my baby any attention because he was just happy and chilling while my niece was being an absolute tornado. I would feel so guilty every single day not being able to give my full attention to 2 babies! Anyone else relate?

 

[myraan]

@samanthaadams I understand where you’re coming from, I feel this way whenever we have playdates. Two is just too much lol However, I do NOT have a unicorn baby so I wouldn’t want to gamble and possibly make another little tornado lol

 

[lovelovelove]

@myraan Yes absolute same. My son was definitely not a unicorn baby lol. However, if it gives you some hope, he’s 5 now. And as hard as he was as a baby, he’s a great easy kid.

 

[premierparalegal]

@myraan This is me too! Can’t risk having another tornado! Barely survived this one lol

 

[cjohnson]

@myraan My son was a super cranky baby and a very...busy tornado of a toddler/preschooler. Definitely did not want to chance a repeat. My sweet, but feral niece is a great reminder of why I'm OAD. lol When my niblings were babies, family was all "doesn't holding (insert nibling's name) make you want another?" nope...quite the opposite. The advantage to holding and cuddling a nibling is that I don't have to deal with the unpleasant parts of having a baby. Their parents deal with the crying and diapers. I get the cuddles and then spoiling them when they're older. It's a great setup. lol

 

[nurrse7075]

@samanthaadams 110% relate. My daughter is 14 months. Incredible sleeper, no gas issues, loves food, loves going out, very cheeky and delightful.

My husband did not cope with the initial sleep loss in hospital, I HATED pregnancy. She is absolutely heaven but we are not rolling those dice again cause she is a 10/10.

 

[samanthaadams]

@nurrse7075 I also hated pregnancy, even though it was the easiest pregnancy and delivery ever. People always said “omg don’t you love being pregnant?!?” Uh nope…

 

[michaelprinzo]

@samanthaadams I refuse to believe that anyone can enjoy being pregnant. Even standard, “easy” pregnancies are miserable.

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@samanthaadams Absolutely relate. This summer, my husband and I watched our friends' kids one day when they couldn't find childcare. Our daughter is 4, and the two other little girls are 5 and 3. When these 3 are together, they wreak havoc and then some- my husband calls them The Slaughter Sisters. They trashed the house playing with my daughter's toys and ate us out of house and home. Their mom dropped them off at 7am and their dad picked them up around 1pm. In that time, they ate pancakes, bagels, cheese, fruit snacks, crackers, carrot sticks, applesauce, yogurt, fruit, pizza...it was endless. They were never not eating.

I was planning on watching all three girls by myself that day (I'm a teacher and I know I could handle it) but my husband insisted on taking the day off because "You could handle it but I don't want you to be outnumbered" . Seriously solidified being OAD because we cannot afford the sheer amount of food we'd need lol!

 

[peterh99]

@samanthaadams Yep. My daughter is a superstar. She's 15 months so I am not counting my chickens yet, I know lots of chaos and defiance is probably just around the corner, but at the moment she listens most of the time when I ask her not to do something. We were at a friend's house and she apologised for the house not being baby-proofed but LO just marched about looking in different rooms and didn't try to get into anything. I feel like I need to quit while I'm ahead!

 

[natalieraye]

@samanthaadams Yeah the older mine gets (almost 3 now) the more I understand how lucky we got and how that would probably change in another anyways. We used to call her a sucker baby - suckers you into having another one.

 

[reporter94]

@samanthaadams I also had a unicorn baby and he’s largely a unicorn kid still. I had friends and family with hard babies and I just didn’t think I could handle that especially with two kids. My kiddo is 11 now and there are no regrets.

 

[solarisus]

@reporter94 Does he ever express desire to have a sibling/happiness in being an only?

 

[reporter94]

@solarisus No. He has a ton of cousins he sees regularly and sees sibling dynamics that he has no interest in having in his home. He loves the fun when with friends and cousins, but likes having quiet decompression space.

 

[solarisus]

@reporter94 I love to hear that. I have a toddler boy and am always on the fence leaning OAD so it’s nice to hear perspectives from older kids. Thank you !

 

[crazycatlady76]

@samanthaadams I too had a unicorn baby, my one and only is now 12…still so glad I only had one

 

[lovelovelove]

@heloise23 This sounds so much like my son at that age! I would describe him in the exact dames ways - terrible sleeper, colicky and cried non stop, high needs, demanding, clingy, but also so sweet and loving and gentle, cautious, a definite rule follower, cognitively caught on really well, talked early.

I said this in another comment, but now at 5 and in kindergarten he’s a champion sleeper, still so incredibly sweet and gentle, still a little rule follower, listens well, gets along with all people. Basically I feel like most of the hard parts fell away as he got older and the east parts stick around. It’s been a great age.

I mean- he still wants a lot of attention and isn’t good at independent play, so there is that. That’s still exhausting at times. But the things he wants to do have gotten more interesting and fun to us so that’s been better lol.

 

[heloise23]

@lovelovelove This is good to hear! Your kiddo sounds lovely. I feel like my daughter’s developing personality is so well aligned with mine and it’s really nice.

It’s still early to make any assumptions but so far- things have definitely gotten easier the closer she gets to two. She threw constant tantrums 10 months to 14 months and now barely has any. It really helps her frustration level that she’s verbal and already able to do a lot independently.

 

[abbagirl2017]

@samanthaadams My unicorn baby turned into a tornado, lol. She’s 4, and a wonderful, happy preschooler that loves playing on her own and is usually pretty quiet. But she also needs some serious energy release every day, and can run around in circles outside for hours and jump over all the couches and just create a general mess that exhausts me. She’s also pretty good about helping clean up her mess, so that’s a good thing! lol.

 

[melissauk]

@abbagirl2017 Can totally relate to this!