A Story About "Brother"

Mason has been talking about "brother" more and more often. We rarely mentioned much about the adoption to him until right around December because we didn't know if he would be able to understand it and we didn't know how much longer it would be before "brother" came home. At Christmas, we decided to put up four stockings so that brother would have one too and that has been a great conversation starter with Mason. At first I felt really anxious about telling Mason he was getting a brother because I didn't want him to have to wait this undetermined amount of time before what we told him would come true. Also he is not to the age where he understands the concept of time that well so even if we were able to tell him that he is getting a brother in 6 months, he still wouldn't understand that. So I was a little worried about it all, but came to the conclusion that it is similar to when a mom of a toddler is pregnant. That toddler doesn't fully understand what is going on, or exactly when the baby is coming out, or why it can't come out right now just because he/she wants it to. But its a healthy process for that toddler to know that he/she will be getting a sibling and their family will be changing. So for that reason we realized it was time to start talking to Mason about his brother.
We've told him the basics, that he is getting a brother, and he will be sharing his mommy & daddy & house & toys with him. We've started talking about brother when we do different things as a family, about what it might be like to do that when brother is here. We asked Mason one day if he thought he would like an older brother or younger brother, and his eyes got really wide and he nodded as he confidently said "biiiiig brother". Not that its a choice to make, but we were just interested to see what he would say. His answer resonated with us because he will most likely be getting a big brother. (Our home study is written for a fairly loose parameter of 0-8 years old so that we are more available based on their needs for families for children in their care.) The last two weeks Mason has asked several times "Where's my bruh-der?" And we tell him that he lives in the Bahamas right now, but soon he will come live with us. Its hard to explain things to him when we know he's not going to fully understand it, but we try to give him straightforward and simple answers so he can take it all in. The other day someone asked him if he has a brother and he answered "yep. He's in the 'hamas". It was a pretty cool moment that made us realize he was understanding a little more than we thought, or at least at a minimum able to recall the things we are telling him. So basically we have told him two facts: (1) He has a brother and (2) He lives in the Bahamas right now, but soon he will come live with us.
Last night before bed, Mason randomly started talking about brother all on his own and added some information to the story. We got him to sort of retell his story so we could video it. He is melting our hearts with all of this stuff. What a sweet little brother. {I just love the shapes his little mouth makes when he's talking!}

Brother from Heather Knowles on Vimeo.