In my last post, I shared my pregnancy story about how my 3 year old was the one who cleverly pointed out her unborn sibling growing inside of me; even before my husband and I knew he/she existed.
Now that I am prominently showing, Isobel and I have a special night ritual where we kiss the baby goodnight and sing songs to baby (my husband wants the sex of our baby to remain a surprise – so for the convenience of this article, we shall name him/her ‘baby’.) Even though Bel is very excited about the addition to the family, I want to continue this exercise so that baby and Bel can start bonding early.
Anyway, just a few days ago Isobel tells me she’s expecting a baby too. You cannot imagine my shock when she said that. I smiled at her and quickly SOS –ed the hubby.
“Bel thinks she’s pregnant. Need you el-pronto!”
I think I am quite liberal when it comes to parenting – during bathtime, I point out to her our private parts and I’ve explained that noone else can touch her but myself and the nanny. And I always advocate sex education being taught in school – but I didn’t expect to discuss this with my daughter at such a young age!
I recall learning about the birds and the bees through the children encyclopedias that my father bought second hand from the garage sales in the UK. My sister, who is 2 years older than me (and much smarter, may I add) read it loud to me when I was about 5 years old. My younger brother Mozes Jr thought babies came out from kettles – and mum was quick to explain that it was not true. And trust mum (bless her soul) to tell us the truth about reproduction through her teaching apparatus (she’s a nurse tutor in the College of Nursing back home).
But I’m miles away from my mother and I have a very indignant 3 year old rubbing lotion on her tummy so she doesn’t get ‘stretch marks’ from carrying her baby.
How do I handle this?
I decide to ‘facebook’ this and search for answers from other mummies out there.
Someone suggested I tell her that there are many different pockets in our tummy in which one is for food, and one is for the baby. Then further elaborate that she’s been eating a lot of yummy food, hence the fuller stomach.
That could work. So I did just that. Isobel’s retort?
“So how come mama got baby inside?”
I decided to follow my gut instincts and told her this:
“Mama and Papa loves each other so much that we decided we wanted another baby- we created a baby sibling for you Bel, so you have another friend to play with. And God granted us this blessing because Mama and Papa have been united in love with God as our witness.”
She didn’t ask anymore questions after that. Neither does she think she’s preggers anymore. I think Papa and I need to sit down and be prepared for the next round of questions in the near future.
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