How to start the posts in the main page at an offset of one or two

I hope this forum is still active.

I would like to feature the latest on or two posts in the welcome widget area above the main content area. What I was wondering about is how I could start the posts underneath such that the first post is, say, the third post and not the latest post.

I hope I am making this clear. To summarize: if I feature the latest two post in the widget above the content, how to have the posts in the content start at number three.

Thanks.