Questions...

My girls have been asking me questions lately. Not the usual questions like, "Can I have a cookie?" and "Will you buy me this?" No, no those are the easy ones. I have been getting BIG questions. The ones that make you want to put your head down and wish there a was some book you could open up a read a well scripted answer for them.

I was tucking Alexa into bed the other night. I leaned over to give her a good night kiss and she looked up at me with those big honest eyes and asked, "Mommy, what is this God thing all about."

Oh boy. At bed time. Really? I have about 15 things still left to do downstairs before I can go to bed. God? Really? This really isn't a quick bed time conversation, but I did my best. I summed things up in as simplified a manner as possible. Alexa has been testing out her new information. In the middle of dinner two nights later I look over and she has her hands clasped together in front of her. "What are doing?" I asked.

"I am praying," she responded.

"What are you praying about?" I asked.

"I'm praying for God to help all the people to be nice to each other." I told her that was a really good thing to pray for. It has gone on sporadically for the last few weeks. In the middle of various activities you will see Alexa clasp her hands together and pray. Each time I have to suppress a giggle at the abruptness of it all.

In thinking I had done a pretty good job with the whole God explanation, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Until two nights ago at dinner Chloe asked me, "Mommy how can people who are not married have babies?" At this point... I began to pray.

"Well, it takes a man and a woman to have a baby and that can happen when people are not married." Silence... whew... yeah... that will cover it... excellent... or not...

"How? What if it is a boy you don't know?" OK so possibly my first attempt was a little too vague. I added a few more details and (following the advice from all those parenting articles) a few vocabulary terms that would be age appropriate. That seemed to satisfy the questions... for now.

I know more is coming. I struggle, like many parents I am sure, with giving them enough accurate information to answer the questions without exposing them to too much that they aren't ready for. We all want our kids to grow up, just not too fast. And possibly when I have had a chance to script out a really good answer and get plenty of sleep first.