Big brother
Another few weeks passed since the day of Jenny's graduation ceremony. In these weeks Jenny and Jason had been spending a lot of time with Charlie, who was on his summer break just like his mother. She was using this time to let Charlie become more accepting of the child that was to be his brother or sister in just a few short months. Jenny had even borrowed Elizabeth's home ultrasound machine, after finally being able to visit her in person, and used it to let Charlie have a look at his baby brother or sister. She hoped that by doing this, she could let him create some kind of bond with their unborn child before the birth. Because after the child was born, she would need him to fill the role of big brother and help her and Jason out whichever way he could. But when she actually turned the machine on and played with it with Charlie, he just glanced at the image a bit uninterestedly and said, "Oh...Is that little blob it?" Then he turned his focus back on the game in front of him, causing Jenny to let out a sigh as she wonder what she should do.
When she discussed what had happened with Jason, he wasn't much help either as he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't worry about these things. They have a way of working themselves out. Once the baby is here, I am sure Charlie will learn to love it and play with it. He will see then that having a brother or sisters has benefits as well. At the very least, having a playmate that doesn't have to go home can't hurt, right?" His easy going attitude with this caused Jenny to sigh again and she tried to think of another plan to fix this. With her starting work in just a week's time and with matters being the way they currently are, she couldn't just wait and do nothing. She knew she needed to spend as much time as possible on Charlie's feelings now and give him plenty of attention to make sure he is on board by the time her second little one is here. If not for saving herself the trouble of dealing with matters after these remaining seven months, then at least to compensate him for her attention unavoidably diminishing once their second child would be here.
Jenny knew that Charlie was very attached to her and she liked that about him, making her shower him with the attention he asked for. But, now that she was pregnant again, she knew things could not stay the same and this change would be hard on him. So, she was redirecting all her and Charlie's focus on him becoming an older brother instead of him looking at her pregnancy as the arrival of a little person stealing away her attention from him. But this was something she couldn't do alone. So, during her final week at home, she called for some assistance from the Netherlands. Jenny wanted Charlie to be the kind of older brother that her brothers had been for her. And who better to teach him about being a big brother than three goofballs who had been her older brothers for over twenty years.
The three uncles gladly took on the responsibility of teaching Charlie what it means to be a big brother and after a few days with the them, Charlie seemed to look a bit more forward to the arrival of his brother or sister. But the full change in his behaviour came when Elizabeth went into labour and Charlie got to meet their girls of just two days old for the first time. Though it wasn't the first time Charlie got to see a newborn as he had seen Alice and Amelia on the day that they were born, this time was certainly different. Back then he had only just turned two years old and a baby brother or sister was the last thing on his mind.
This time around however, he was about to experience the same thing in just a few short months. So, the arrival of these two girls was very well timed and hit close to home for him. When he first entered the living room where the two of them were sleeping in their little bassinet that separated the two of them with a thin, mesh wall. In this sleeping device designed for twins he got a good look at the little girls and he saw how small, how delicate they were. Though he didn't think that anything would change from seeing these babies, it was this meeting with little Anna and Eva that had the biggest affect on him. It was by seeing them and holding their soft, small hands, that the words his father and uncles had spoken started to make sense. If he could feel this way about these two girls, he could certainly imagine feeling this or even more when it was his own brother or sister.
Charlie had sat quietly beside their beds during their entire visit and didn't leave their side until it was time for them to go home. Even during the ride back home he wasn't very talkative, causing Jenny and Jason to be a bit worried about him as they glanced at him using the rear-view mirror. It wasn't until they were close to home that he opened his mouth to ask Jenny a question. "Mommy, will my little brother or sister look like aunt Lizzy's babies when it is born?" Jenny was surprised by his question but answered him as well as she could. "Well not exactly the same...But if you mean if it will be that tiny and cute, then certainly! I am confident that our child won't lose to aunt Lizzy and uncle Nick's babies." Charlie answered with an absentmindedly "hmm" as if to say, 'I see'. Though Charlie didn't ask or say any more on the matter, this one question gave Jenny hope. Thinking that maybe she had done the ultrasound too soon and Charlie needed something a bit more in order to want to bond.