What Should I Be Doing With My Newborn, Seriously

Don't freak out. See what the next few evaluations will hold.

I would try to line up some play dates with kids the same age as yours so you can compare what your guy is doing and not doing compared with other children.

These are a few basic checklists.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-24-month-olds-language-and-cognitive-development-asking_1273382.bc

http://www.babycenter.com/0_learning-milestones-cognitive-skills-ages-3-and-4_72271.bc

 

After a few weeks, we split the night up. My wife pumped, went to sleep at 8 and I did the shift until 3. She did 3-7 and the slept until I left for work at 8.

It still was hell but there is light not that long in the future.

 

I echo what Care and watery said. Using the breast pump once a day shouldn't sabotage breastfeeding. Get a SLOW FLOW nipple for the bottles, though. Slow flow nipples are more like the actual breast. Medela makes breastfeeding-friendly bottles, nipples etc.

The other thing you can do is support your wife. Tell her what she's doing is amazing. When she's nursing make sure she has plenty of drinks, snacks, the remote control, burp cloths, pillows, anything she wants.

Another nice thing is to offer to make her a good meal and "feed" it to her while she's nursing. It may sound insane, but in those early days when the baby nurses around the clock, it's hard to get time to eat.

 

When feeding your wife, DO NOT employ the airplane spoon.

 

Haha! ;D

Personally, I like the choo choo train.

 

My daughter, I just had to give her a spoon, and she was all set. About 20 years from now, I'll probably need to be fed with a spoon. :-\

 

I think I waited even longer than six weeks, maybe a fill two months, before I pumped, so I was the one always with the baby. But I will never, ever forget that my husband got up every time the baby cried and went in and changed her diaper and just kind of got her settled and ready to feed. And when I told him he didn't have to keep doing it, he said, "You have to get up every time, it's the least I can do." This s one of my favorite memories of being new parents. It was just such a sweet gesture even though it didn't get me more sleep or anything. It just made me feel like a real team and that he was really appreciative of what I was doing.

I echo Lugnuts about other ways to show support. Those things stayed with me a lot longer than the exhaustion did.

 

We didn't realize those things either when Little C was evaluated this past summer.
He still has resistance to drinking out of a regular cup at home (prefers to drink from a take-and-toss cup with the spout) but will drink from a regular cup in school. We're able to get him to take a few sips from the take and toss at home, then he'll have a fit and refuse to drink unless we put the lid on. Since he's an extremely fussy eater we need him to drink his milk, so Mrs. E and I cave in and put the lid on.
In terms of dressing himself, he's better at undressing himself than dressing himself. He'll dress himself with assistance (mom or dad holds the shirt or pants) but won't do it by himself.

Little Stain might not have done those things on testing day or might not have done the tasks they tested. The tests are all a matter of timing - Little E does some of the things they tested him on, but didn't do them when he was tested, so he scored lower.
You also have to keep in mind that the tester might have seen Little Stain as borderline for testing and curved the score down to make sure he qualified for services.

The EI program will help, but once the local school district takes over, if they have the right programs you'll notice huge improvements. Little E was making some progress in EI, but once he turned 3, EI ended and the local district took over. The local district has an integrated class of about 12 kids, about half are high-functioning with IEPs, the rest are mainstream kids (who model the appropriate behaviors). In the classroom there's a Special Ed teacher, a regular classroom teacher and an aide, so the student-teacher ratio is fantastic and the strides he's made in just three months there are amazing.

 

Anyone have any advice on what to do with two little ones? My first little guy is about to turn 1 and we just found out my wife is pregnant again. He'll be ~20 months when the new one is born. Is there any way to survive having two little ones in diapers and needing constant attention? We are pretty much freaking out over here.

 

What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.

 

By 20 months the need for constant attention will have waned a little bit. He'll need constant supervision, but he'll want to spend a lot of time playing and doing stuff on his own with you nearby.

 

Mine are 26 months apart. I think the best advice I got was from someone with similarly spaced kids who are now 10 and 12 and very close. I remarked on it once and she told me that when the younger one was born, they always had the older one help with baths, feeding, etc., to feel like he was part of everything. She said he took on a protector role and really adores his sister.

We also tried very hard to each carve out alone time with the older one to make sure she wasn't feeling overlooked. Lots of outings to the park, restaurants, etc.

I won't lie, it's been daunting and exhausting at times, but I'll be forever grateful that they are close in age. Best to you and Mrs. McNugget.