Spain Dad, a baby blog

Cara DeHaan said...

Hey Kelly-
We moved when Ian was 18 months old, and I was surprised, actually, by how little he seemed to notice the change in location. We hadn’t prepared him for the move in any significant way, but he immediately seemed comfortable in the new surroundings. My conclusion was that he didn’t care where he was, as long as he was with us–and had his blanket to sleep with! If we were to move again, now that Ian’s four, we would definitely talk with him regularly about the move, drive through the new neighborhood to show him the new house (and parks, etc), and ask him what color he’d like his bedroom walls painted. All of that seems fun to do with Alleke, but I’m not sure it would be essential to ensure the transition is smooth for her.

The only thing I’d recommend is that Alleke’s bed move with you, so she has a familiar place to sleep.

Happy packing!
–Cara

PS – I’m glad you’ve found a suitable place, with an oven, even!

Christie said...

I know I read this one someone’s blog but I can’t remember. Anyway, at some point closer to the move date, they got their kid a toy moving truck and had them pack their doll’s things in the moving truck and on the day of the move they took the truck with them. I’ll look around and see if I can find the blog because I don’t remember all of the details but thought it was a great idea!

I really like your apartment, even if it’s small. It seems like all my apartments don’t have any character like the ones you’ve shown.

Wendy said...

You don’t know me, but I love reading your blogs. We moved when my son was 20 months old and we involved him in the process. He would carry little things out to the car and then take them into the new house. He loved it and kept asking me for “more stuff!” We got him a new little toy and put it in his empty room, so he would associate the new place with fun. And he “helped” me assemble a lot of our new Ikea furniture.

Penni said...

Like everything, go with the flow and follow her cues. We moved a few times when Frederique was little (actually Fred has technically lived in a new house for every year of her life, though some years we moved twice). Anyway, first time she was about Alekke’s age. She had a favourite book – Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten (which just happened to be about moving house). She woke up unsettled the first night and we got up, read this book to her about five times and then she went back to sleep. Sounds obvious but make sure you know where all her special things are on moving day (it’s easy to do some last minute panic packing and misplace this stuff).

On moving day, i took Fred out for the day, then we got to the new house, I busied myself setting up all her toys and things so she had a nice space to be that was hers right from the start.

Kids adapt way quicker than adults, so probably any sad feelings you project onto her about the move spring from your own ambivalence about moving or displacing her. I think kids can make you get very attached to spaces and when we move sometimes it feels like we’re leaving our memories behind us, leaving some vestige of their childhood in a space we can no longer access. So give yourself time to reflect and grieve for the lost territory of her babyhood too, if you need it.

Penni said...

Oh der, I just realised this post is about three years old.