September 27 – “Cailyn’s announcement”

Cailyn made quite an interesting announcement yesterday.  Well, maybe it wasn’t so much an announcement as a revelation.  On the other hand (wait, that makes three hands), she was just waking up from her nap, so perhaps it was all just a dream.  Hard to say when a three-year-old is the principal purveyor of information. 

As she usually does when she wakes up, she cried out for the last person she remembers seeing before she fell asleep.  That makes sense.  In this case it happened to Nani, who was at the time getting clothes out of the dryer.  So good old DadDad forced himself into the consoler role and headed back to her room.  She didn’t seem too disappointed when she realized it would not be Nani responding to her cries for attentiveness.  I plopped down on the bed next to her and we began to talk.  Well, she began to talk, which is always more fun for me.  Never know what she might say, especially when she is just waking up. 

After some preliminary giggling and hiding under the pillows and shivering because she was “brrry” and pointing out – again – that the cover she was under was one that MeeMaw had made for her and that she had another one at home that Nani made for her and she also had a Hello, Kitty blanket at home and … well, you can see what greeting Cailyn after the hard work of napping is like.  After all those preliminaries she paused for a second to think about what she would say next.  I didn’t want to interrupt the thought processes of this master talker in training, so I kept quiet.  She obviously was thinking through something.  Her brow furrowed just a bit.  Her lips pouted out.  She let out a barely perceptible sigh.  And then it came to her.  Her eyes lit up.  She bolted upright in the bed.  This was the message of the day – of the week – of the year, perhaps.  It was certainly the memorandum of the moment. 

She reached over and gently touched my arm.  She looked at me with a conspiratorial glance.  And then she began:  “My mommy is trying to get a new baby in her belly.”

Wait.  What?  That came out of nowhere.  Not wanting to make any assumptions, I asked for clarification, “She does?”

“She dose, DadDad.  She wants a new baby in her belly really bad.”

OK.  So after long days of studying and clinical experiences and tests (did I mention that April is in her labor and delivery rotation of nursing school right now?  Not to mention that Aunt Christina is this very moment walking around with one of those “babies-in-the-belly”) April has been confiding the deepest longings of her heart with her three-year-old companion. 

Now this was getting fun.  I decided to take my one and only leap into the world of Cailyn’s announcement just to see one thing.  It was dangerous ground, I knew, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up.  Boldly, I took a deep breath and forged ahead, “So how does Mommy get a new baby in her belly?”  Yep.  I really did ask that.  Come on, you know you would have wanted to in that situation.

A long pause followed as she pondered the mysteries of that universe.  Longer.  It was as if she was searching, searching for the answer she knew must be there somewhere.  The longer she searched, the more uncomfortable I became.  See, if she realized that the answer didn’t exist in her world, she just might ask the question herself.  And did I mention that Nani was busy folding clothes?  Frantically, I gathered together all the grandfatherly wisdom of the ages to bring forth the proper answer to such a question.  Oh, I had an answer all prepared, believe me.  I was all set to jump right in with that perfect answer for all such queries that has stood the test of time.  “Ask your mother.”

I was stricken from my reverie by a new outburst from Cailyn.  This time one of giggles and then outright laughter, as if the question had become the most absurd thing I could ever have come up with.  And her answer?  She threw her arms out to side, palms up, tossed her hair from her face, and squealed, “I don’t know that, DadDad, where’s Nani?”

Whew.  Subject changed.  Issue dropped.  For now.  But Nathan and April … anything you want to tell us?

Psalms 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”

Father, I count on you watching over all our little ones and teaching them as they grow.  Anoint their Moms and Dads with your wisdom so they will have “all the answers” when the time comes.  Amen.