Recently I've been thinking about baby items, and having to dig out all of Katy's old stuff, and I was thinking about my relationship with my favorite baby item: my video monitor.
If your first child was born before 2004, I know what you are thinking: "Oh my gosh, (exaggerated eye roll) a video monitor? Isn't that a little excessive? When my kids were little, we didn't have monitors at all, let alone video monitors." Actually, you may be thinking that even if you have young children. At first, so did I. We had registered for a regular monitor, and it was one of the (very few) things that we didn't receive as a gift. Before we went to buy one, my neighbor (mom of three) said, "I know it seems crazy, but I love the video monitor. I really think it's worth the extra money." So we took her advice, and we splurged a little.
That extra money was worth it to me, because this product gives me one thing: peace of mind. Because our house is so vertical, I am almost never on the same floor as my daughter when she's in her crib. The nursery is on the 2nd floor. So if I'm awake, I'm downstairs. But if I'm asleep, I'm in the attic where our bedroom is. There is nothing better than rolling over in the middle of the night and being able to see my baby girl sleeping soundly from my nightstand. Otherwise, I know I would be constantly running downstairs to check on her. Or when she was little and we were teaching her to go to sleep on her own, she would fuss here and there, but I could look at her and see that nothing was wrong (she wasn't stuck between the rails or sitting in her own bodily fluid or anything), which really helped me to be able to stay away and let her settle herself down. Also, ever since she gave up her morning nap, I let her play with toys in her crib while I take a shower. I can take the monitor into the bathroom with me and keep an eye on her pretty easily. See? Countless uses! I know my neighbor uses it with her older kids to make sure they are staying in bed when they are supposed to. Brian jokes that we'll use it when she's 16 to make sure she isn't sneaking out. Ha! Nothing gets past us!
But I must admit that even though I have this nice monitor, I still sneak into her room every night before I go to bed to make sure her little chest is rising and falling. I don't know if I'll still be doing that when she's 16, but it's a mother's prerogative for now.
3 comments:
You sold me. I'm buying one. Because soon he'll be in a toddler bed and I want to make sure he's not chewing on wires/climbing on shelves and hanging from curtains.
When she's 16, you call the monitor a "cell phone." But the hovering doesn't go away; it just takes a different form. :-)
Glad to see that I'm not the only one who checks to make sure the kids are still breathing before I turn in at night! =)
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