Day 22: Waiting for Baby

I have a lot of friends who are pregnant right now, some of whom are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first child, and others who already have a little one at home and are awaiting number two.  Two friends are "waiting for baby" any day now, and dear friends of mine just welcomed their son into the world yesterday.  (Congratulations Josh and Becca and big sister Sophie!)  It's serious baby mania, and it's wonderful!  As I've naturally been thinking a lot about these friends lately, I thought I would feature a book today that was one of my favorites when we were expecting our second child.  Going into my third trimester, I really wanted to find a great book to read with my son that would get him excited about becoming a big brother.  I was exceptionally nervous about how he would handle this, given that he went through a rather long phase of seeming to despise babies.  He was a little more than two at the time, and whenever he saw a baby anywhere or even a picture of one in a book, he would point at it and say, "No baby!  No baby!"  (For some reason, he would also say he wanted a girl but "no boy!"  Phew!)   I was thrilled, then, when my cousin sent us some of the books that had helped her eldest son get ready for becoming a big brother, too.  Waiting For Baby was by far the biggest hit, and we read it before bed every night.  It tells the story of Max, who knows his mommy is about to have a baby any day and can't wait to meet his new sibling.  Each day of the week, Max tries a new strategy to encourage the baby to come out, and each day, he is disappointed that "no baby came."  My son's favorite was the song he would play on his drum:  "Rum tum tum, baby come!  Rum tum tum, baby come!"  At week's end, of course, Max's little sister finally arrives and he gets to go to the hospital and meet her.  To me, this book was a perfect way to get my son excited about becoming a big brother and a wonderful teaching tool about what to expect.  We changed the title to "Waiting for Emma," and he loved to hear me explain how he would get to do the same thing as Max:  Grammy would come and stay the night with him while Daddy and I went to the hospital, and then he would get to come to the hospital to meet his baby sister!  I explained what things would be like at the hospital -- how I would be in a big bed and he would be able to sit on it with me and hold Emma -- and how after that we would bring Emma home with us.  We especially loved looking at the series of illustrations on the inside covers of the book, which show the things Max and his family do together before and after the baby is born.  If you or anyone you know is expecting #2 and looking for a great book to share with the big brother or sister-to-be, this is the one!  Oh, and it turns out I needn't have worried at all.  My son adores his baby sister more than anything in the world.