"At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies." - PG Wodehouse

This is the quote of the day that came across my google today. Makes me think I need to get to the library and check out a Jeeves book.... my sister-in-law has been recommending Wodehouse for about two years.

It is funny to read this quote after a week with Caleb (over our evening dinner time) who has been really trying to understand where babies come from. All of a sudden 'when a mommy and a daddy love each other' doesn't answer his mechanical minded prying. "Did Sofia come out of your belly-button or what?"

I think it is really a measure of the maturity of the parents, not the children, when these questions come up. I think that I heard it from our family doctor first... just answer the question. No more, no less. Don't give more information than they ask for.

So over many prying glances between the 'mommy and daddy who love each other' we explained the beginning mechanics of child-birth over chicken drumsticks and rice.

After some thought, Caleb's eyes got really big. My mom did that!? "Did it hurt?" he asked. "Yes, Caleb, but mommy's and girls are made by God to be able to do this, so it is okay".

Then, he actually began to try to say why he couldn't do that but that he was stronger than mommy in other ways. (He really has a hard time seeing that mommy is physically stronger than him right now.) Marc cut it off really quickly "Caleb, stop. There is nothing you and I will ever do that compares to giving birth."

I'm not sure that Caleb believed him. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that he believed our explanation of child-birth either.