Owning the Move

Though Nicholas is a very bright two-year-old, he is not anywhere near ready to grasp the full implications of moving yet.  However, he's very observant, which means he's started to notice that something is not right (and not just the obvious, such as the high and deep stack of boxes in our living room and his bedroom).

Given all of that, we're trying to do at least some preparation to get him ready for the idea of living somewhere else.  Oddly for us—and a sign of how busy and stressed out both Sarah and I are—we have not consulted any writings on the topic from child psychologists, experts in travel, etc. Basically, we've tried to do what we always do with Nicholas: we explain things so that he can exert ownership over a situation.  It's proven to be the only way that he really calms down and accepts newness.

So today Nicholas and I had a little conversation on our way to Home Depot for more boxes about our new house (NB: it's really an apartment, but saying "house" seems more natural).  That he would get to have his same toys, and the same furniture, etc.  All of them are coming with us!  It also helps that he finds Boston a very cool place, since last time we went on an airplane.  Though we have had to explain that we're driving this time.  I'm not entirely sure it's the "right" thing to do with a two-year-old to emphasize that we're leaving and that we'll be someplace new, but my gut tells me it's right for this two-year-old.

And just in case he gets a little nervous about being in a new space, Sarah and I are already scheming for a few gimmicks to make him feel more comfortable and/or to distract him until he's had time to settle in.  First, Sarah's parents are making the trip with us [ed.: THANK YOU!], which will help at least functionally so he doesn't get run over by furniture and its movers. Second, we tried to pack in accessible places some of the things he uses as safety cues, such as the wall quilt that hangs in his room, some of his favorite toys, etc. And if those fail, there's always distraction: we'll live across the street from a small airfield, where we may make a few visits early in July, and getting a library card is very high on our to-do list.

We'll see how it all works, and of course as we have time will blog about it in order to share and/or bore the living daylights out of you. [ed.: also pictures!]  Whatever happens, it will be interesting, and since Nicholas is pretty resilient, I'm confident he'll be fine.