Dai-Dai

Every morning, the first thing Judah says to me is "I want see dai-dai!"

I obligingly lift up my shirt so he can hug my belly and plant kisses on it, all the while squealing "Dai-dai, I love you!  I miss you!"

"Dai-dai" is Cantonese for "little brother" and even though we don't speak Cantonese, he's picked it up from being in the church nursery.

So now, all day long, Judah makes me lift my shirt up so he can 'interact' with dai-dai.  He wants dai-dai to listen to the story he's reading.  He wants dai-dai to watch him play with trains.  He gives dai-dai snacks and drinks and often instructs me, "Don't close your belly!" because he wants dai-dai to see what's going on.

Giving a milk bottle to dai-dai--a favorite daily activity.

Incidentally, everything is directed toward my belly button, where, I suppose, the concentrated essence of dai-dai resides.  Frankly, it's pretty annoying (and now that winter is coming--cold) to be constantly baring my mid-riff.  But who am I to get in the way of some toddler-fetus-sibling bonding?

I've explained to Judah that dai-dai will get bigger and bigger until one day mommy will push him out of her tummy.  He seems to understand and get really excited about that prospect.

I can't wait to pop this baby out and watch Judah's mind get blown.  I'm sure he'll go through the natural feelings of jealous rage when he realizes this kid is going to have all of mommy's attention for a while, but at least for the first few minutes, it'll be pretty freaking awesome!