Peter Gets It

Peter seems to be getting into the idea of a baby coming. He calls his blanket “Baby” now and is a lot more possessive of it than ever before. I’d say that he’s taking care of it like it’s his baby, but since he’s also dragging it on the floor and flinging it around in the air I’m hoping that he’ll treat an actual brother or sister a bit more delicately. He’s also pointing out babies when he sees them, like when on a walk or in a store.

 

But it’s not like we’ve been bombarding him with “when the baby comes…” or “when you’re a big brother…” type lectures. It’s been pretty laid back in that area. But he knows things are different. Last night when we went for a walk, Peter’s Mom told me about a hot dog she had during the day, and I commented that the pregnancy has really changed what she would normally eat. Immediately, Peter chimed in with an emphatic “yeah!” I shouldn’t have been surprised at his reaction since he’s very, very observant, but I was. I suppose I underestimate the things he understands, but he gets what’s going on now. And he’s cool with it.

 

We did this before, right?

I got the box of pregnancy books out of the basement this morning.  I’d say we don’t need no stinkin’ books no more, but we’ve been blowing off the mental cobwebs lately and we probably do need a refresher course.  I looked up the list of what a pregnant woman can/should eat and what she can/should avoid the other day and Anh asked what I found out. I thought she already knew the list because she told me a couple days earlier that she couldn’t have soft cheeses (which I had forgotten about in the past 2 years), so I know I’m not the only one.

 

Speaking of food, cravings are back again. Last night, not too long before it was bedtime, Anh needed fried chicken after seeing a commercial on TV (confound you, television!). It would have taken me at least 20 minutes to go out and get some and come back, and it was almost bedtime after all. So she was able to settle for a bowl of cereal. I am hoping she’ll have a craving for Taco Bell one of these days. I haven’t had a trans fat-laden Artery Clogger Bel Grande in a while. Mmmmmmm, processed foooooooood…

 

We’re also in the phase of discussing getting Junior out of Mama’s tummy. More specifically do we want to go to a hospital, or have a home birth; deliver in a bed or in a big tub of water; send Peter to Mexico for the delivery, or only to Chicago? We saw some videos of families that have the siblings hovering around the birth of their new brothers or sisters, some even swimming around in the tub with the mom. We love Peter, but… Nuh uh. He can hear about it afterwards.

 

The Invisible Elephant In The Room

I just did a post on the Peter-only blog. The arrival of Number Two isn’t public knowledge yet, so not being able to mention that certain fact in the post is frustrating. My fingers want to type out PETER IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER in the same way you would feel the need to burp after chugging a two liter bottle of extra fizzy soda. But I can’t. So I have to rupture a gut.

So What's New?

We've decided that Fathers Day weekend will be announcement weekend, since we'll be able to see just about everyone in our families then in those two days. We have Cousin Elana's 2nd birthday party on Saturday, and then we'll be seeing other relatives on Sunday. The problem is making the announcement at Elana's party without upstaging the birthday girl. Really, I wouldn't want to cross Elana, as she has mastered the art of the dirty look and can give you a verbal lashing in the sweetest voice imaginable. So we have to be subtle.

 

We've decided Peter will wear a T-shirt that says "I'm getting a brother or sister..." on the front and "...but I'd rather get a fra fra" on the back. We just have to hope he doesn't blurt out "baby in mama" in public. So far he's only done it at home, and only when goaded into it, so we should be safe. But he's in the midst of his verbal explosion, and you can't be sure of what he's going to say at any given time.

 

I will be happy when it’s out in the open. I’m worried that we won’t be able to come up with a good casual denial of an offer of hard liquor or soft cheese. 

Winter Plans Now Set

We had a home pregnancy test left over from 3 years ago. It said it expired May 2009 (d’oh!) and gave a negative response after we tried to see if it still had any effectiveness. A “fresher” test was purchased yesterday, and this morning it gave a positive result. So we are on course for a due date in late January or early February, at least according to the internet. The internet’s never wrong, is it?

Boy Name #1

Cletus Bojangles Clausen.

 

We’d then have Pete & Clete. And I don’t see how you could go wrong with the Bojangles part.

And now...

Anh is "late." Her energy level is lower than normal, and she said she's experienced some slight nausea lately. We had said that we'd want about 3 years between kids, and if this is it, then we'd be looking at about 2 years 9 months between Peter and Number Two.

The timing feels oddly right. Peter's been getting more independent and while I don't want to say it's been easy with him, it has been at least easier now than at any time before. He loves to be the center of attention, so it will be interesting to see how he's act with a baby brother or sister. We've asked him if he wants a baby, and at first he simply said no. Now he'll just say "fra fra." I don't know if he's changing the subject or simply letting us know that he'd rather have a train than a baby, but he has been very good with children younger than him. So I think he'll be superficially upset, but that shouldn't last long. Besides, he adapts to new things really well.

We have experience in having a baby, so it's not like we haven't gone down this road before. Then again, we didn't have to raise a toddler the last time - but Peter is a very well behaved kid even when he's feeling naughty, so I'm not worried about that. I've heard that the second pregnancy is a lot easier than the first. I've also heard the opposite, so I'm going to go with the idea that each pregnancy is different. I just hope the end stage is more routine and boring than the last time.

And I must say that it's more difficult than last time to keep this quiet. It's exciting and I want to run around saying "Hey everyone, guess what!!!" But we gotta keep quiet for now. We don't even have confirmation of anything yet.