My New Heartbeat — 1-Year-Old Is Clueless About Mom’s Pregnancy

by Katie Saltz

I vividly remember the joy on my daughter’s face when we told her we were pregnant with her brother. She was 4 years old and had been wanting a baby sibling…

for a long time. Her excitement was palpable.

Fast forward to her sixth birthday, when we told her we were once again going to bring a new baby into the family.

She squealed with delight and gave my tiny baby bump huge hugs.

Her brother, on the other hand, sat where he was and continued to pick his nose.

Ezra is only a year old. He will be almost 21 months when this new baby arrives.

When people ask me how my kids feel about the baby news, I answer that CeCe is excited and Ezra is clueless.

This throws some people for a loop. They assumed that he and CeCe would both be thrilled.

CeCe certainly is over-the-moon at the idea of having a sister. Ezra has absolutely no awareness of this unborn baby. And why would he?

As far as he knows, Mommy is just getting squishier and rounder.

I didn’t expect him to comprehend that a baby is inside of my body, and one day it will suddenly be living beside him in our home.

I realize how spoiled I was by CeCe’s over-the-top reactions to my pregnancies.

She likes to rub my bump, talk and sing to the baby, and she takes pride in helping me prepare the nursery.

Ezra likes to put race cars on top of my belly and watch them roll down.

In trying to explain the baby to him, we actually caused confusion. We pointed to my belly so much when talking about the baby that he now thinks “baby” is the correct term for stomach.

It’s pretty adorable to watch him poke his own belly button and call it a “baby.” But it didn’t exactly help with the explanation.

I’ve read plenty of advice on how to prepare siblings for a new baby.

But I am skeptical that a 1-year-old can comprehend any part of this process.

For now, I’ll enjoy my 6-year-old’s involvement in my gestation period and not push too much baby talk on my toddler.