My daughter has been really getting into her baby dolls lately, and I’m glad. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been shying away from Barbie dolls or other “older” dolls; I wanted her to have this time in her childhood to play baby dolls. Little girls grow up way too fast now a days.
One of her favorites is one she got from her Mamaw’s house. It has a hospital bracelet on its wrist, so she calls it her “hospital baby”. All day long she says, “Here’s my born baby.” (Pretty sure she means newborn baby here…)
This morning, though, she was using her pink stuffed tiger as a baby. She was carrying it around, singing it lullabies, while I emptied the dishwasher.
That’s when she asked me something I wasn’t really prepared for:
“How does the baby get out of Mommy’s tummy?”
“Well, how do you think they get out?” I asked. (Yes, I was stalling for time here…)
“Through your belly button?” she said, kind of in a questioning voice.
Okay, she was asking, and I couldn’t just say yes to that and let it go. Right? I mean, I want her to come to me in the future and believe I’ll give her the right answers.
“Do you think the baby could fit through your belly button?” I asked.
Okay, I knew I couldn’t let her believe they did, but I was still stalling for time, praying for the right words so I wouldn’t scare her, or give her more information than she was ready for, but I also didn’t want to lie to her…
“No,” she said. “It’s too small.” Giggle, giggle.
“When Mommy had babies I went to the hospital and the doctor helped get the baby out,” I said.
Maybe she’d let it go at that?
“Mommy, I have a baby in my tummy. I need to go to the hospital,” she said, her pink tiger held behind her back.
She took my hand and guided me to her play kitchen area. “Here’s the hospital,” she said. “I need a doctor to get my baby out.”
I reached behind her back and handed her the pink stuffed tiger. “Congratulations,” I said, “you have a little girl tiger.”
“Oh, thank you! Now, how did you get the tiger out from my tummy?”
Guess she wasn’t going to let it go…
“Well, you were right before, you’re belly button would be too small for a baby to fit through,” I started. “The baby comes out of your privates. (She hasn’t asked for the proper names, yet.) You know how boys and girls have different privates?” I asked. “That’s because girls have babies and boys don’t.”
She let that register and then she went about taking care of her pink stuffed tiger. Thankfully she didn’t ask how babies got there in the first place today, although I”m sure it will happen long before I’m ready!
Cindy says
I would so like to be a fly on the wall when she starts asking the follow up questions:-) I remember some pretty interesting conversations with my girls and the granddaughters:-). On a happier note, for some reason it seems like the boys I’ve known aren’t interested!
Terri says
You handled that better than I would have.
Kim says
The best advice I read somewhere was to keep it simple and stop when they seem to be satisfied. Add more info as they get older but keep it short and simple for now. They really can’t process the scientific details right now and don’t need to to anyway. I remember my daughter carrying around her baby dolls and playing mommy. Capture it on video as you can, it is precious to go back to and watch when they are older!!!!
admin says
Yeah, I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I definitely need to get my camera out next time she plays baby; I never thought of it, but it is cute!
Lisa @ Two Bears Farm says
Whew boy, not looking forward to those questions!
hannamay says
I don’y like to answer those kind of question…