Anyway, we have started to try to prepare Josiah for the new baby to come. I think the idea of a baby in the belly coming out is so abstract to a 2 year old that even if I was as big as a watermelon it wouldn't sufficiently prepare him for the shock that will be---a new baby in the home. I oddly enough feel as if we can just as adequately prepare for an adoption, at least at this age. Perhaps in a year or so it would take more explanation on why Mommy's belly isn't getting bigger, but I think for now he is very concrete in his thinking and isn't quite ready to analyze or compare such things to other ways of having a baby. That being said, we have been talking a lot about our new baby. We ask him often whether he wants a baby brother or a baby sister. I'm not going to lie, half the time he says, "no" as if the question implies he can decline. It's pretty funny. Actually, he usually says he wants a baby girl. I mean, I don't think he really knows what he is talking about, but it is still fun to ask him. Every night we pray for our new baby, and last night he even said he wanted our new baby to come home soon. We have been talking about what new babies like to do (cry, have na-nas, sleep). He still hasn't reconciled the fact that he isn't nursing, and he asks for na-nas every single day. This does make me secretly nervous, so we have spent a lot of time talking about how the na-nas are for our new baby. He does occasionally say, "Josiah have baby's na-na's?" or "Josiah share baby's na-nas?" with a sly grin. I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise when the following story unfolded.
Yesterday our dear friends Josh and Valerie visited with their two week old son Judah. Valerie handed Judah to me and Josiah crawled up on the couch next to me. He watching me cuddle this brand new tiny baby, looked at me matter-of-factly and commanded, "Mama, give baby na-nas!" It was as if he was saying, "duh, I know what to do next." That provided a good laugh. We explained how Mommy is only going to give na-na's to our baby. Then he was very curious as baby Judah ate from his own Mommy. I was glad that he wanted to share na-nas. Everything was going pretty well. Josiah got to hold the baby and was VERY upset when we took him away. Then, Valerie was changing Judah's clothes and Josiah saw his not-quite-healed umbilical cord. He was very distressed and thought there was a bug on Judah's belly. He wanted us to rectify that as soon as possible. I had to show him how Judah just had a "black" bellybutton that wasn't a bug. That was a concern I don't think many would anticipate! It was really good to see how Josiah interacted with a newborn. We will definitely be talking about what to expect with the new baby as much as possible, and we have a list with children's books to get to help him through this special preparation time.
All things considered...I think Josiah is going to make a fabulous big brother. We are very excited to see it happen!
Josiah and Judah...the beginning of a long friendship!
1 comment:
If y'all do adopt a little girl if she has a twin make sure that y'all adopt both of them because it's not pracitcal to split twins up. Love ya sweetie. :)
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