Big Brother

I've been waiting for just the right time to tell Tanner the baby news. Tonight was the night.

He was in a great mood after school. I took him to our favorite Mexican place for dinner, because I wanted the scene to be special. We got our drinks and salted our chips, and then I said that I had a very big surprise for him.

"A present?" he asked hopefully.
"Well, sort of..." I replied.

When I told him, he didn't believe me at first. But then he broke into a huge grin, and said:
"Me and Jayden are going to have a baby brother or sister?!?! For reals?! Yessss!"

He went into Big Brother mode immediately. He began to calculate how old Jayden and the baby will be when he is at various ages. He asked if he'd have to baby-sit them when he's older. I said that he probably would, and he goes: "Whoa. That will be a LOT of work."

I asked if he'd noticed my belly getting bigger. He said he had noticed, but he just thought that I was eating too much. :) Then he said: "Ooohhhh - is this why you haven't been doing very much lately?"

It was such a relief to finally talk about it with him. He didn't ask any of the hard questions I was prepared to answer. In true Tanner form, he'll mull it over in his own time, and then talk to me when he's ready. Instead, we talked about the fun stuff. He wanted to know when we could start buying baby things, and he said he wants a sister because we already have enough boys in our family. He asked what the baby looks like in there, and how it eats and if it can hear us. He asked how long I've known, and asked if he could call Chila to tell her. He asked if the baby liked Mexican food.

He was so happy! Later that evening, he wrapped his arms around me and put his head on my stomach. "I'm not hugging you, Mom," he said. "I'm hugging the baby." My dreams aren't the only ones coming true. He is going to be an awesome big brother.