“Who’s in your tummy?” She suddenly asks. This is one question I’ve had to answer more times than I would care to count. Knowing that my tummy would balloon and attract questions at some point, I made it clear to my 3 year old daughter that I was carrying a baby from the very beginning. This was also to prepare her for the new addition to the family. We felt that if she knew that things were about to change, it would not affect her so negatively when we finally brought home the new baby.

What I was not well prepared for were the many follow up questions that would be raised. At first she was very understanding. She is most of the time. Even when I’m holding her and she lies on my tummy, she always assures me that she’s not hurting the baby. The other day though, we’re just hanging out when she turns to me and asks, “Who put that baby in your tummy?”

There’s a hint of disappointment in her voice; like she cannot believe that someone would be so malicious.

Me: God did
Her: Where is he?
Me: Up there in heaven.
Her: Why did he put the baby in there?
Me: Because he wanted me to have 2 babies.
Her: (Pointing at herself and then at my tummy) Two like this one and this other one?
Me: Exactly.

She looks away. I can tell that her mind is busy. She’s trying to digest all that information. For a minute she looks satisfied. I give a sigh of relief thinking to myself, ‘I handled that really well. She now gets it. I don’t have to explain anymore.’

This little bubble I’m in is burst into oblivion a minute later when she proclaims excitedly, “I also have a baby in my tummy!”

Well, I tried. We’ll do this again tomorrow. 

Until we see each other again,