Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Here we go....


"Mom, do you know how babies are made?" asks Julian, completely out of the blue at dinner.

"Yes I do."


Pause.


I eye my seven-year-old, wondering where this will lead.

"So do I," he says cheerfully. "Daddy told me some stuff."


Pause.


"So what do you think about what Daddy told you?"

"Welllll... kinda gross and kinda cool."


I laugh. "Well, how babies are made IS kind of gross and kind of cool."

Before I can find out just how much "stuff" his dad has told him, he asks if I want to know what Daddy said to him, so I can validate how much of it is accurate. I consider my five-year-old sitting at the table with us, take a breath, smile and say, "Sure!"


"Well there's a baby cell," he begins. "And it starts to divide into two cells, then four, then eight..." He eventually gets to the part where each group of cells develops into a specific body part for the baby- muscle cells, eye cells, bone cells, then individual parts like limbs and things. We have an interesting and enjoyable conversation about just how much the babies can do, even while still growing in their mommy's belly.


After a moment, I ask "So Julian, what was the gross part?"


"Oh. The baby cells, when they split up."


Whew.


1 comment:

  1. Love it! That's so funny. I'm wondering when the "where do babies come from" will come up around here. I can't say I'm looking forward to that conversation...

    ReplyDelete