So Ben... he has this sort of side obsession right now. Actually, when I started really thinking about it, I realized it actually goes as far back to when I was pregnant with Simon, he was just too little to really articulate it.
Pregnant bellies.
(Back then, he used to LOVE to play this game where he'd stick a ball, or his froggy lovey in his shirt and then push it out.)
One would assume that being almost six this time around, he'd have lots of questions and whatnot about the baby and how it got there and how it's coming out. And he IS a little curious about all that. But mostly? He's just into the belly.
I discovered this actually about a year ago when he was playing with his Legos at the dining room table and built a pregnant Lego woman out of people parts and an R2-D2 head. He also built a hospital bed and heartbeat monitor. (somewhere on here is a picture I took of it which was really quite funny) It was amusing at the time, and I noted that he acted a little shy about it, not wanting to tell me what it was, I had to guess. But then I kind of forgot about it...
Then I noticed he was really into this ONE part on a Sesame Street DVD we used to watch a lot (Elmo Goes to the Doctor) that featured a pregnant woman getting a checkup, with the doctor measuring the belly and listening to the heartbeat. It was on a loop in our van DVD player the longest time and he used to make me back it up to that part over and over and over again. Thankfully, it has gone missing.
I'd ask him, "Ben, what do you like about this part?" And he'd always answer that he didn't know and he'd squirm around in his seat.
Pretty much as soon as he knew I was pregnant this time around, he started staring at my belly all the time and acting all squirmy.
Tom and I have done our best to be open books about the whole process. We took him to the library and got him books about reproduction. He might be one of the most well-informed almost-six-year-olds out there. (though no, he doesn't yet understand how the sperm gets to the egg) I've read the books to him, talked about the pictures, showed him his ultrasound pictures and pictures from when I was pregnant with he and Simon. We watch A Baby Story all the time together because he's so into it... my assumption has been that the more access I give him to all the info, the less mystery there will be and maybe he won't continue acting so WEIRD about all of it. It's been a test of our parenting, for sure...
The real tip-off that the demystification was nowhere close to finished was when I picked up my laptop in our room in Disney, to find the Mac Help program on the screen and in the search box he had typed "preginit bellys.com" (he must have thought he was on the internet and THANK GOODNESS he wasn't!!! OMG! Can you even imagine what might have come up?)
Since then, we've ramped up our talking and reading even more. I took him to my checkup with me on Wednesday and he was fascinated and very nearly speechless by the whole thing.
OH! And just two days ago, he finally pulled out a lunchbox he had been hiding in the back of his closet. I've known about it for months and months now. It's where he hid the pregnant Lego woman he made. He asked me if I wanted to see what was inside and opened it to show me not one, but FOUR pregnant Legos and a heartbeat monitor. LOL!
I'd like to think that him taking that out of hiding was a huge step... in the meantime, I guess we'll just keep talking and keeping all this pregnancy/baby stuff out in the open so he feels more and more comfortable with talking about it.
What do *you* make of all this?!
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