Little Conversations, Big Meanings!

For some time now we have been telling Diego that he will become a big brother next year. We have asked him for his opinion on her name (so far the one starting in N has won), told him that his empty crib will be her sisters and that they may sleep in the same room. And he seems all cool about it.

When we pray at night, we also ask for his sister in Russia and that we continue being patient and wait until she comes home... Usually, Diego just listens and we were not sure how much he was really understanding... Well, this week I have been trying to apply some of Supper Nanny's tactics to get Diego to sleep in his bed without me laying next to him (lately he is back to laying on top of me!). I had been trying to sit at the bottom of his bed and turn my head so he just sees my profile, bu he keeps standing up and asking me to hug him.

Few days ago I decided to try to explain him why he needs to sleep by himself... It went like this:

Me: Diego, once you sister N is here she may need help sleeping and mommy may need to hug her while you sleep in your bed.
Diego: N is not here yet, she is still in Russia. We have to wait.

Then he hugged me and told me that he NEEDS to sleep in my arms, and I gave in!

The next night, I tried again to get him to sleep in his bed, but he really wanted nothing to do with it, so we were chatting again:

Me: Diego, when your baby sister is here mommy may need help to help her sleeping and I will need you to stay in your bed.

Then there was a long pause. I laid down next to him, he climbed on top of me and suddenly out of the blue he said:

Diego: Mommy, daddy will take care of my sister; you stay with me.

Yeah, my poor boy may have a hard time adjusting once his sister is home, at least his bedtime routine will be tricky... I may need to take a break mentioning her, because when I recently asked him if he was getting nervous about having a sister he said yes. Right away I told him that he will always be my baby boy and his sister will be our baby girl and that we will always love him and her. Then he smiled and repeated "always love me"!

For several weeks now we have been reading the scholastic series of "why should I" (care, share, help) and "I care about others", "I like to help", and others also from scholastic. They are short and sweet and Diego always seems to pick at least one of these books when it's time to read before bedtime. So, it was quite nice when he stated relating the message of these books with his sister, coming up by himself with comments like "I will share my playground with my sister N", "I will share my playing room with N"; however there has been no "I will share mommy with N"!!

I know having two children will be quite an adjustment for us, but I think about her every day and I can't hardly wait for January to come and get closer to meet our daughter!