A Baby is Coming...from the Perspective of a Four Year Old

First of all, let me say that one post a month is bettr than no posts in 6 months, right?

Anyway, M has said a few things lately about her sister that have given me a little insight into how this whole baby thing is processing in her mind. I just had to share them. She is obviously getting excited about having a sister, although for a while we were having issues with the name (which isn't Facebook official, yet, so I'm not posting it on here yet either. :( Sorry).

A couple of Saturdays ago, we were looking at bedding and such with my parents to get some ideas of what we might do with the nursery. M found a bouncy ball that she wanted to get for "sister", which we all wondered if she was really being sweet and thinking of Sister or just using Sister to get something she really wanted. Haha! (Then, I kind of felt bad for questioning a four year old's motives.) I actually halfway considered getting the ball, until we discovered that the ball was $8 (and it wasn't really that big). We started trying to encourage her to look for something else for Sister. Anyway, everything she saw, she would say, "We could get this for Sister." I thought it was sweet. By the way, we settled on a bib that says, "I <3 my big sister."

Oh, the name issue--when we first started telling her that she was going to be a big sister and that there was a baby in Mommy's tummy, we weren't sure how well the concept was "clicking" in her little mind. However, we've had so many friends have babies lately or that have younger siblings that M plays with that we thought comparing the baby to a one she already knew might help. Unfortunately, it looked like that idea backfired because once we found out we're having a girl, she immediately started calling her by the name of her friend's little sister and would get angry with us for referring to the baby by our chosen name.

In the last few days, though, she has started referring to the baby by our name and not her friend's name. YAY! One day, she went on a hunt through our house looking for Sister's room (only she used the name). The first place she looked? Her bedroom because she told me one day that she wants Sister to sleep in her (M's) room. I showed her the baby's actual room and she said, "Where is her bed?" Now, this struck me as very funny because of the way the room looks presently. Right now, you can barely see the guest bed, much less the floor!

M has been wanting to start buying baby food for Sister and wants to help feed her when she's born. I was worried that this topic would bring up a whole new conversation that I wasn't quite ready for. However, she was pacified with the answer that yes, she could help feed Sister when she was big enough to eat baby food but that for a little while only Mommy would be able to feed Sister. Yay for her not always caring about the "why"!

Finally, tonight, M informed me that when she was a baby, she was born in Mommy's tummy (I think she meant "from"--at least, that's what I'm hoping) and her friend T was born in Mrs. J's tummy. Then, she said something about a boy-sister (I'm thinking she forgot the word "brother") was born in Daddy's tummy. Hhhmmmm....not quite, honey. I guess she thinks mommies have girls and daddies have boys in their tummies. Anyone else predicting a few "talks" around the corner for our family? And guess who will be having those "talks". Guess it's a good-thing (or a God-thing) that our church is offering Vickie Courtney's "Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter" Bible study.

Hope you have enjoyed these little tidbits.