This post may contain Affiliate links. More information here.
The newest addition to the family is due in about 9 weeks, so I’m frantically trying to get things done, prepared, and set up so that the transition from a family of 4 to a family of 5 goes as smooth as possible. One of the things we’ve just done is to create this ladybug countdown chain to act as a baby countdown and to provide a visual representation to Bear {5 yrs} of how soon the time is coming.
I broke down the 9 weeks into two sections. There are 7 large rings representing weeks. The smaller rings represent the last 14 days. I did it this way so that there is a distinct difference between the large amount of time we’re waiting and those final two weeks where she count potentially come at any time. I think that this will help Bear to be much more prepared when we get to those small ladybug chains,. That way he can know that her birth is essentially imminent and it won’t catch him off guard as much.
To start off, Bear stamped black dots on two pieces of red construction paper with a black bingo marker.
After I cut the paper into 14 short, thin strips and 8 thick, long strips, we worked as a team to give them all eyes. I glued, he stuck. {He doesn’t care much for white glue for some strange reason.}
After they dried, we created loops with them and stapled them together. It wasn’t until after we did that, that both Bear and I realized that some of the ladybug’s eyes and dots lined up to make cute faces.
The ladybug countdown chain hangs in the preschool area of our dining room. It makes me smile every time I see it. Not only is it cute and counts down the weeks and days until our new little girl comes, but it’s also a reminder of a few fun minutes I spent bonding with my not-so-little-anymore boy.
