The other night Liana was watching Miss Spider on TV. It was a flashback episode to the time that Miss Spider first laid her eggs and was waiting for her first babies to hatch. Liana was watching the episode intently, trying to follow the plot. At a certain point she furrowed her brow, turned to me and declared:
“Eggs for eating. Not for babies.”
Oh my. BIG question for so late in the evening.
My head started spinning as I tried to figure out a way to approach the enormously important issues of life and birth. As she waited for my response, my confirmation of the fact that eggs are in fact for eating and have nothing to do with babies, I sorted through my huge internal database of information on the subject, struggling for the simplest way to explain LIFE. Finally, some words came out of my mouth.
“Liana. Some kinds of babies grow in eggs, and some kinds of babies grow in women’s tummies. People and other animals grow in tummies, and birds and insects grow in eggs. But the eggs we eat are for eating, not for growing babies.”
I considered moving on to discuss fertilization of eggs, and the fact that women have eggs in our bodies and that they are similar to eggs that are not inside of animals bodies… but before I could go on, she humored me, as she often does when I give absurd explanations, and responded by simply saying
“Yup.”
And then she turned back to the TV.
Not sure I handled that as well as I would have liked. She’s a bright kid. And she is keeping me on my toes, with increasingly insightful questions about the world around her.
We have so many adventures of discovery ahead…..
“Eggs for eating. Not for babies.”
Oh my. BIG question for so late in the evening.
My head started spinning as I tried to figure out a way to approach the enormously important issues of life and birth. As she waited for my response, my confirmation of the fact that eggs are in fact for eating and have nothing to do with babies, I sorted through my huge internal database of information on the subject, struggling for the simplest way to explain LIFE. Finally, some words came out of my mouth.
“Liana. Some kinds of babies grow in eggs, and some kinds of babies grow in women’s tummies. People and other animals grow in tummies, and birds and insects grow in eggs. But the eggs we eat are for eating, not for growing babies.”
I considered moving on to discuss fertilization of eggs, and the fact that women have eggs in our bodies and that they are similar to eggs that are not inside of animals bodies… but before I could go on, she humored me, as she often does when I give absurd explanations, and responded by simply saying
“Yup.”
And then she turned back to the TV.
Not sure I handled that as well as I would have liked. She’s a bright kid. And she is keeping me on my toes, with increasingly insightful questions about the world around her.
We have so many adventures of discovery ahead…..
Hope I'm up for it!!!
