As my pregnancy has progressed I've been wondering how much Owen really understands what is happening. When I was expecting Maddie, Gavin was still a baby himself. (He was only 19 1/2 months when she was born.) He knew that I had something in my tummy, but I don't think he could grasp that it was another person who would be joining our family. Fast forward to Owen's arrival. Maddie had just turned two when he was born and was extremely mature and verbal for her age. We had no doubt that she was fully aware of everything that was going on.
Owen falls somewhere in between. He is two so he is older than Gavin was when welcoming a new sibling, but, though his vocabulary grows by the day, he is still more of a baby than Maddie was at the same age. When we first found out we were expecting a boy and then named him Benjamin, Owen thought it was funny because he has a Thomas engine named Benjamin. He called my tummy Baby Ben, but he also started to call his train, Baby Ben. I was afraid he was expecting a train to come out of me in October!
I've been reading him books in preparation for the new arrival, but we had a definite ah-ha moment in Chick-fil-A several weeks ago. We were sitting in a booth next to a family with an infant. He looked at the baby and said, "Awww...baby," and then patted my stomach and said, "Mama has baby in tummy." It was at that moment that I knew he connected the babe in arms to what was growing in me.
Owen falls somewhere in between. He is two so he is older than Gavin was when welcoming a new sibling, but, though his vocabulary grows by the day, he is still more of a baby than Maddie was at the same age. When we first found out we were expecting a boy and then named him Benjamin, Owen thought it was funny because he has a Thomas engine named Benjamin. He called my tummy Baby Ben, but he also started to call his train, Baby Ben. I was afraid he was expecting a train to come out of me in October!
I've been reading him books in preparation for the new arrival, but we had a definite ah-ha moment in Chick-fil-A several weeks ago. We were sitting in a booth next to a family with an infant. He looked at the baby and said, "Awww...baby," and then patted my stomach and said, "Mama has baby in tummy." It was at that moment that I knew he connected the babe in arms to what was growing in me.
We also weren't sure how much Emahry understood the concept of a new baby. However, while I was pregnant we would ask her where the baby was and she would point to my belly, now when we ask she runs and points to baby Jonathan. I'm not sure that she really understands, but she is very glad that I have a lap again :)
ReplyDeleteThat was so precious... he probably does understand more than you think. I did think it was cute that maybe mom was having a train!!! :)
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