This is my post Mother’s Day ode to awkward questions. Enjoy!
I have a few friends that believe that there is this time in a child’s life where the spiritual veil is very thin & they can recall where they were before they were in your body. Like heaven, or a past life, you know stuff like that.
It’s something like before a child becomes 3 yrs old, you can ask them “where were you before mommy’s belly?” & they will give you insight to the “other side”. I dig that kind of stuff so before Sol’s third birthday I asked Sol…she said she was “swimming around…with whales”.
Hmmm, kinda sceptical but it could be possible, right? So maybe I birthed a baby that was a scuba diver in a past life, or…a whale. Anyway, fast forward she is now 4 & 1/2 we are all sitting around the table having dinner & she was talking about my belly, as it sometimes comes up, asking questions like: “Why is it so big?” (Too many carbs), “Why is it so squishy?” (Again, too many carbs) & she goes on to share how she used to be in there but wanted to come out. The story usually stops there.
Then she looked at me & asked…”how did I get out?”. Jemar gave me the nervous side eye. I’m not sure he totally loves my radically honest parenting approach & would much rather I tell of a stork that magically flew the air & delivered right to our doorstep but whatever…I said, “I pushed you out.”
I was hoping to leave it at that, so I simply continued sucking the bone of my lamb chop.
But she really looked kind of disturbed & said “like how?”
Hmmm….what…to…say…now?
So I said, “like this” scrunched my face and grunted as I beared down, lamb chop in hand.
Confused she was.
So she asked, “like going doody?”
& I said “yup, exactly like going doody.” Which isn’t a lie…really.
I do have a confession though. She did ask how she got in there, & I lied a tiny bit…I told her the same confusing thing my mom used to tell me (and now I know why) “it was a miracle, God oversees all miracles”…but thats not a total lie either.
Oh dear, how is it that I’m turning into my mother?!
& double oh dear. What will Sol ask next?
I love these stories. I think it is better in the long run to raise someone who is curious and questioning rather than afraid to ask the wrong thing or afraid of sounding silly. But I don’t have kids, so it’s easy for me to say!
Happy belated Mother’s day.
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Brace yourself. It gets worse. But its great memories and everyone of them will be cherished.
Ps… i wrote most of mine… ny children said they will show it to their kids in my “dementia” years.
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Ha! It totally gets worse, I hear ya.
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