Setting the scene: Laying down for bed this evening with CB, after a long day of togetherness. After reading books, she is all set up in her "Sleeping Tent." (She's been sleeping in this tent for almost 3 weeks. It's a tent set up on top of her bed that is so tiny it just fits her body and not much else. It's adorable. One night, I suggested it as a fun thing to get her excited about bed, and apparently it was a good idea.)
CB: Mom, why do I have a belly button?
Me: Your belly button marks the spot where there was a cord connecting us when you were in my tummy.
Remember how H had a cord when he was born and then his belly button formed?
CB: Yes, but what is the cord for?
Me: It's so that the baby can get food while it's in the mommy's tummy?
CB: Well, how did I get into your tummy?
Me: (Oh boy) Mmmm, well you started as a speck and then grew into a baby.
CB: How big was the speck?
Me: (I make a tiny circle with my thumb and pointer) Really small. Tiny, like this.
CB: Well, how did the cord connect to the speck?
Me: When you were a speck you had to grow arms and hands, legs and feet, a head with eyes, nose, and
ears. And we had to grow the cord between us.
(Pause)
CB: What does the speck eat?
Me: The baby eats everything the mama eats. Like when I ate a hamburger, you got some hamburger.
When I ate broccoli, you ate broccoli. That's why you like it so much!
CB: Oh!
Me: Okay, time for bed now.
(Which I felt bad about saying, because her expression was so focused
and curious. But I kept thinking about my other child who was with my parents, waiting for me
to come bring him to bed.)
Long pause.
CB: Mom, who was I before I was the speck?
Me: (Poking my head under the side of the tent, smiling at her unbearably sweet insighfulness)
I've wondered that too... I don't know, hon.
