What does Jake think?

After hearing that we're expecting baby #2, one of the first questions that's usually asked is "what does Jake think about that?" It's an interesting question and one that is difficult to answer, as I struggle on a daily basis trying to understand the mind of my 3 year old.

I can say this-he seems excited, and he definitely has an understanding that there is a baby in my belly. He points to it, pats my belly & acknowledges that it's a baby. But I'm not sure how much he really gets what it is going to mean to have a baby IN our house, all of the time in a few months.

Here are some of the things he's had to say about the baby so far:

*After patting my belly for a few minutes one day while reading a book, he pulled up my shirt and excitedly suggested, "Let's take it out!".

*He has contributed 2 name suggestions so far: Diego, and "Ben, like Big Ben and my best fwiend Ben" Neither of those have made the short list so far....

*One day we were talking about what the baby would do when he came home. Jake said that he would play with him and help me feed him. I asked him if he was going to help me change his diapers; his face turned very serious all of a sudden & he said "Your baby smells like poop".

So, that's really all that he's had to say about his baby brother so far. The next big step for him is going to be moving into his big boy bed (we need his crib!), which we'll probably do sometime around March. We've talked about this with him & he's excited for his new bed; I also told him we were going to give him a whole new special big-boy room makeover, so he's pretty pumped for that, too.