May 29 - Jonathan and Baby Talk

Lately, Jonathan has been enjoying reading Mercer Mayer's The New Baby, and when we talk about the baby, he'll pat my midsection and give it a kiss. (Hopefully such loving gestures will continue after the baby arrives.) But, somewhat surprisingly, he hasn't mentioned anything about Garrett or "baby brother" when we talk about the baby. It'll be interesting to see how he processes everything as the due date approaches, and what he'll think of the baby coming home and staying home this time.

Since Jonathan and I both see Sharon Riester, and he was due for his two-year well-baby visit the same time I was due for my second prenatal appointment, we rolled our checkups into one. He had accompanied me for most of my prenatal appointments with Garrett, so it wasn't entirely new to him. And I told him before hand that Sharon would put a wand on my tummy to listen to the baby's heart beat. When Chris got home from work later that day, Jonathan told him that he got two stickers at the clinic, a tractor and Thomas the Tank Engine. And then he told Chris he got to "listen to my baby." I thought it was sweet that he'd refer to the baby as his baby.

While we were eating dinner the next night, I encouraged Jonathan to eat his pasta to fill up his tummy. He stretched back and lifted his shirt to pat his belly and said, "My baby in the tummy." I tried to explain that little boys don't have babies in their tummies. Only mommies have babies in their tummies. But he was adamant that he had a baby in his tummy, too. Then he took a spoonful of applesauce and tried to feed it to his bellybutton.