Someday I'll have to fill in the details.

From peanut-butter and honey, cream-cheese and butter, we end up on c-sections and incubators, and I almost put my foot into sex:

"How long was I in the hospital?" Elias asks.

"94 days."

"When I'm fifteen, doctors are going to cut my belly open too." Olive says.

"Um, no Olive, the doctors usually don't cut babies out and.."

"How long was I in the incubator?"

"...you won't have a baby in your belly when your 15. Seven weeks."

"Why?"

"What was I in after the incubator?"

"Because you can wait Olive, and baby's usually come out of your vagina. An open crib."

She squints her face at me, "No, their gonna cut it out of my belly."

"Not usually Olive, they come out all on their own, with your help, from down here." I place my hand between my legs.

"They come from down here." Elias pats his lap.

"Yes Bud, but boys don't give birth to babies. Only girls do."

"Why?" asks Olive.

"I don't know, its just one of the cool things about being a girl. But boys get to help make babies."

Oh shit.

"How?"

"Mom, how did the doctors get me in your belly?" Elias asks.

I stand at the sink not washing dishes, but looking at my nine-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, who wait for me to answer their questions.

"The doctors didn't put you in my belly. Your Dad and I did."

"How?"

"How?"

"How did you put us in your belly?"

"Uh, magic."

"But how?" Olive repeats.

"Your Dad and I just did a magic hug and then poof you were there."

Magic indeed.

Comments

[Mom and Dad]

Love it!!

[Kristen H]

That's awesome. I have a 2-year-old and I will definitely remember the "magic hug" (and a 12-yr-old, but we've been having increasingly informative variations on "the talk" for several years now). Nicely (and appropriately, IMHO, dodged!

[jwg]

There are teachable moments and then there are the moments to duck and dodge. Good work.