[pjgodwin]

We are going to be moving - hopefully this summer - to a larger house, same city.
Our son will be 2.5 by then, and our current house is the only one he has ever known here (he came home at 6 months old).
We may have the option of building on site.
Any advice as to how to make the transition easier? OR, at his age, is it even a problem? If we build, would taking him often to the site help?

Any words of "been there done that" would be extremely grateful. TIA!

PJ

[linda512]

I moved when my son was 20 months. We had been in one apartment from the time he came home at 8 1/2 months until we moved. He did fine, with a little trouble with early waking the first few days. I told him about it, but had him out of the apartment when the movers came and brought him back after I had unpacked some- we stayed at my parents the first night. There are some books about moving that would help with an older toddler- my son was too young but now at 26 months he does well with those kinds of books. I made him one about my surgery when he was 22 months and it seemed to help him be prepared.
Good luck!

[HBV]

I learned something interesting from a friend of mine on this. They moved when their daughter was about 4, and she had a fit about it---it turned out that she thought she'd have to leave all of her toys and things at the old house.

My nephew did exactly the same thing when I moved----until I explained that all of the things he liked to play with at my house were coming, too.

It's funny what they think about that would never occur to us.

[blessedbybug]

Originally Posted by pjgodwin

We are going to be moving - hopefully this summer - to a larger house, same city.
Our son will be 2.5 by then, and our current house is the only one he has ever known here (he came home at 6 months old).
We may have the option of building on site.
Any advice as to how to make the transition easier? OR, at his age, is it even a problem? If we build, would taking him often to the site help?

Any words of "been there done that" would be extremely grateful. TIA!

PJ

We moved when DD was 28 months old (and it was complicated a bit because her little brother arrived the month before we moved, and we weren't able to get into our new home for 7 weeks). Some of the things we did...

• kept her in her crib (the bed she was familiar with)... we put up/took down her bed 4 times in 3 months but it was worth it.
• We didn't ask her to work on big milestones like potty training or weaning from her night bottle (she kept the bottle for a lot longer than we planned but it did help because it was a soother to her)
• We took her to the new house before we moved in so she could see her room, etc.
• We let her cry about it all, and she was mad. In fact, now 18 months later, she still talks about her old house.
• We found a couple of books (but we're book people!) that talked about moving. Berenstain Bears has one; Boxes, Boxes Everywhere (which has a Christian bent, so it may not work for your family).

I'll be watching this thread with you. We're probably moving again in the next few months. DD will be 4, DS nearly 2.

Good luck!

[sadiegirl]

We moved TWICE in 2 mos (our house sold quickly and unexpectedly and we hadn't bought a new one yet).

My suggestions are to have his room be EXACTLY like it was before, as far as furniture placement, etc.

In the temp house, we had no control, his new room was a different color than his old but we just played it up about how we were going to decorate it etc with his fave things...trucks and trains.

make it sound exciting and a good thing!

[AKMama]

We moved last year (within same town) when my girls were 33 months and almost 23 months. We talked about moving, they saw the boxes, we went to the new place when it was empty and they ran around. They were around on moving day and waited at the new place and watched the furniture and stuff arrive. The new place was so much bigger than our tiny condo, I think they were most excited about actually having room to move around and play. The hardest thing for them, I think, was not sharing a room anymore. In the new place, they each have their own room. My younger one took several days to realize this. Every nap and bedtime she kept going into her sister's room looking for her crib. We kept the old bedroom theme (more nursery-ish) for my youngest since she still had the crib at the time. For my oldest, we made a big deal out her getting a big girl bed (went from the toddler bed to a twin bed at the new house) and she was excited to get new bedding and decorate her room. For us, I think the fact they finally had room to run and play made the move a lot easier. When we drive past our old place, my oldest will still say "There's our old house."

[Sniffles]

Originally Posted by HBV

I learned something interesting from a friend of mine on this. They moved when their daughter was about 4, and she had a fit about it---it turned out that she thought she'd have to leave all of her toys and things at the old house.

My nephew did exactly the same thing when I moved----until I explained that all of the things he liked to play with at my house were coming, too.

It's funny what they think about that would never occur to us.

ROFL!!!! My DD did that too! We first moved when she was 17 months and it did not affect her. However we had to move again when she was 3 due to hubby's job. She was half upset and half excited. She was afriad we would leave all her stuff behind, but she was excited that she was finally getting her own room. We are looking at moving to a bigger house and now she keeps telling me that she wants to move.

[HBV]

I just got my new issue of Parents this weekend and someone suggested making a "new" house from a moving box, using little jewelry boxes to simulate moving boxes and let the kids practice "moving" small toys and dolls into the play house while you talk about your real move. Seemed like sort of a good idea.