Q. My first born is one year old. We want to have another baby by the time she is three. I'm just curious about specific things that might change once we have our second child. (Life situations, Daily routines, motherly expectations.) Please feel free to share your experiences. Thanks!
A. I nannied two boys 2.5 years apart, and now I have twins.
I don't find 2 kids to be very difficult. It is easier IMO if they are closer in ages, since they can do the same things at some point.
2 kids fit into a standard car, there are lots of double strollers out there.
The worst ages for nannying were when they were 1 and 3. The 3 year old had no self control, and the 1 year old was mobile so would go up to the 3 year old.
By 2 and 4 the preschooler had more self control, and the 2 year old could defend himself. It isn't that you want them to bite etc. but it is useful when trying to keep your big brother from beating up on you! Of course I broke up most fights, but that encourages the older one to start things when you are not looking. Once the younger one can defend himself and chomps down on the older one a couple times the older one learns to respect him, even when the caregivers back is turned.
Also by 2 and 4 it was in many ways easier to have both of them, since they played together. I could watch them play, instead of being the sole playmate.
I prefer 2, so was REALLY glad I had twins. :D My guys are 9 months old and already play peek-a-boo on their own with each other, while I sit back and catch it all on camcorder.
They fight sometimes already to, but as much as possible I try to let them work it out themselves. At least they are equally matched!
Most of my experience is with 2 of course, but I find 2 is better than 1, except for that 1 and 3 stage. That's a bad one. Helpless baby who is mobile and menacing sometimes jealous toddler.
It was nice when I had the 1 year old to myself, when the 3 year old was in preschool, but by age 2 it was really nicer to have both boys together. The important thing IMO is to make sure they love each other. There are things you can do to help that along, and avoid rivalry, and that will make your whole family a lot more pleasant. I would think about getting a book or two on how to get siblings to get along. My brother and I fought like cats and dogs, and maybe if my parents had helped us with it we could have gotten along better. We were 6 years apart though, which can be a lost cause for siblings!
I'm a big fan of early scheduling and routines, so would definitely consider that with a second baby. It would help your first a lot know what to expect when, and help the new baby sleep longer earlier.
What is the best setting for taking sports videos of my kids on Panasonic DMC-FZ28?
Q. I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ28 digital camera. When I video my 12 year olds soccer game, it's always very blurry unless I keep the zoom all the way out. But then I can't get any close up shots of just her or her teammates. I'd like to zoom in to some foot work or individual players doing some awesome moves or taking shots on goal. Is there a special setting that I should set the camera at to take video that is clear and close up? Any help would be appreciated.
A. Hi Jack, and welcome to Yahoo!Answers:
Since you are asking this in the Y!A Camcorders section, most of us here will be quick to tell you that you are using a digital photo camera that's mostly designed for still photos, with "video mode" added as a convenience feature, not a primary use.
Shooting video with a point-&-shoot or DSLR camera is always a compromise. And during video mode, very few cameras like yours have decent "Image Stabilization" (you might also be zooming into the "digital zoom" range, which makes things always look worse, detail-wise and anti-shake-wise).
For action shots or "shots on goal" I'd recommend just sticking with the Lumix's strengths in photo-mode: High Speed Burst Shooting (11-13 shots per second). And turn OFF the auto-focus feature, which is probably "hunting" during your video shots, especially when zoomed-in. It will also interfere with steady focus during action still shots. (Learn to pre-focus for the average distance to the soccer field, then you won't have focus lag to deal with.)
There is a "Sports Mode" setting on your Lumix, so if you aren't adept at manual shutter speed and exposure settings, try that first. (It probably won't help in video mode, as few still-photo cameras have sophisticated shooting mode options for video operation.)
And lastly, all non-tape digital cameras at the consumer level use high-levels of compression to store video footage, which drops over 75% of the actual frames & uses mathematical algorithms to store & rebuild "approximations" of the missing frame info. This is the main reason they produce blocky/blurry action sequences, especially with close-up detail from zoomed-in images. (Zoomed out images have more grass & sky, which is easier to compress & decompress, since the color and detail repeats so much.)
Shop around for a good new or used mini-DV format camcorder (I buy them on eBay all the time for under-$100, with careful shopping from reliable sellers). Canon sells their current HV40 (and occasionally their older HV30) camcorder for around half-price for factory refurbished models on their Shop Canon USA website. Older non-HD Canon, Sony, and JVC mini-DV models shoot even better action footage (less compression, since HD uses almost 4-times the image data) and you can still get models with 16:9 widescreen modes to fit modern HDTV set screens.
hope this helps,
--Dennis C.
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