The Birds and the Bees when you're Three

Carter has a fascination with babies. He loves them, wants to hold them, tickle them, basically mal them. Every time he sees a baby he says, “Awww, that baby is so cute!” He even has imaginary babies (they come in twos around here) that we have to be quiet for because they are sleeping, or feed because they are hungry. So I wasn’t surprised when Amanda came over with her baby that Carter was all over him. I was surprised though when he asked her if she had gotten her baby at the baby store. We laughed about it and thought it was cute, but I didn’t think much else of it. But as we ran into other people with babies Carter kept asking if they had gotten their baby from the baby store. I finally decided I had better try and set the record straight when Carter asked our home teacher if he had any boys (meaning kids), and when he said no, Carter said, “Oh, do you have to buy some at the baby store?”

Fast forward a couple of days as I am looking online and come across a friend’s blog that has posted pics of herself pregnant, in the hospital, in labor, pics of her baby just newly born – basically the whole process. So I call both of the boys in for a little chat. As I’m showing them the pics of her very pregnant belly I’m telling them, “See how big her belly is? There’s a baby in there. Babies don’t come from the baby store, they grow in mommies tummies.” Both of the boys are looking at me skeptically, but I could tell that Spencer was especially distressed by this. Finally he asked, “Mom, did she EAT the baby?!?”

It never ceases to amaze me how literally they take things. To him that is how thing get inside your belly is by eating them. Luckily a simple, “No she did not eat the baby, that’s just where it grows” satisfied him, for now at least.