Apprentice Gardner

Katie got a certificate at school for helping out and being a good gardener. The kids are participating in an annual gardening program at school. Over the weekend, they were required to visit a gardening center and purchase potting soil, a flower plant, and a vegetable. They began planting this week.

When I picked Katie up on Tuesday, the director of the school, Asela, had nothing but praise for Katie. She earned two toys and a certificate for her hard work. Asela said Katie was so good at helping out the entire time they were planting. In particular, he was trying to get some children to help with the weeding. He was really impressed with how well Katie weeded, how much attention to detail she had, and how focused she was on the task. In the middle of weeding, she got called to the other side of the garden to plant her flower, and Asela was surprised when she returned to him afterward and began to weed more on her own initiative.

Maybe we have a future Master Gardener, like Washington Grandma, on our hands! The picture shows Katie with her yellow snapdragons.

Where was I?

A few nights ago, while I was putting Katie to bed, she asked me why she's not in any of the pictures where Kyle is a baby.

I told her she wasn't born yet when Kyle was a baby.  So she asked, "Then where was I Daddy?"

"Well, you were nowhere", I said.

That was not what she expected to hear. She paused, then asked "Was I hiding?"

So I thought for a moment, then softly said, "No Katie,  you weren't even born yet. You weren't hiding. You didn't even exist."

"But was I in the house?" she asked.

So again I tried to explain, "No sweetie. You weren't in the house. When Kyle was born, we didn't have two children.  We only had one baby.  You were born when Kyle was almost three years old."

She thought for a minute and really puzzled over the issue and then asked, "Was I in Mommy's belly?"

So I told her she was very smart and acknowledged, "Before you were born, you were in Mommy's belly."  But went on to explain that "When Kyle was a baby, you weren't born yet, you weren't even in Mom's belly yet. When Kyle was a baby, we weren't even sure if we were going to have another baby."

After that, she gave up on me.

It was a pretty interesting conversation. I wish I had a video camera running while she was processing this information. The looks she gave me were priceless. I can tell she still doesn't get it.  I could tell she thinks I'm messing with her.

Anyone else ever get this question?  What did you say?