This little boy of mine

This morning at breakfast, Lil E peered at me with oatmeal smeared across his cheeks and milk dripping from his chin, with squinty, serious eyes and asked, "Mommy, what if people don't have hands?"

I paused. Lil E often uses vocabulary and asks questions that halt me, stop me mid-verse of Little Bunny Foo Foo, make me send up a little prayer of gratitude for all the wheels turning, turning, turning behind those big brown eyes. But this question gripped me. I wanted to answer it well but without too much complication.

I told him that some people are born without hands or lose their hands in an accident or because they get very sick. I said this part quickly and calmly because I know my boy's sensitivities and I didn't want him to perseverate on losing his hands if he starts to cough. And then I told him that sometimes those people get mechanical hands that work a lot like our hands and other times, people learn to adapt, like using their feet to eat oatmeal or drive the car.

He smiled and I wondered if he was imagining someone driving with their feet. He moved on to another topic but later, while I was washing the breakfast dishes, he ran up to me in the kitchen with another question. This is like him, to think on something and return to it later.

"Mommy, do people without hands sometimes use their feet to eat dinner too?"

"Yes," I said. "Cool, huh?"

He nodded, eyebrows up and lashes fluttering.

"OK!," he chirped and then ran back to the living room to watch Clifford. And that was it, all he needed to know. For now, anyway.

Oh my, oh my. So many details of this big world are coming into our little apartment, and so quickly. I am keenly aware of how few answers I really have for all the amazing, detailed, crazy, thoughtful, perceptive, recycled, random, very good questions Lil E's asking these days.

On a side note: He'll be three in September and has declared that he'd like a big boy bed, which we've promised he will get as one of his presents, with a golf blanket and sheets that are "lots of colors, Mommy!" and, if possible, pink walls to go with them. Decorator, golfer, questionneur. I love this kid.

Comments

[foodmomiac]

I love that you used the word "perseverate." You are a smarty.