Our daughter will be 3 in a couple months, and she’s starting to become quite aware of what’s going on around her, and is very curious about things as well. This story is about her and her father.
We came home last night after doing a little shopping, and we all needed to use the bathroom. Mommy got to go first because the little *angel* in her uterus was making it extremely difficult to wait. Then Mommy helped little Emma have her turn, and Daddy came into the bathroom, waiting for his turn. As Emma looked over at Daddy, she asked, “What does Daddy have in his tummy?” Hoping she actually meant tummy, we grinned and said he just had a lot of hair on his tummy. But she was not satisfied. “No, I mean, what does Daddy have in his underwear?” Our response: “Nothing, honey. Let Daddy have his turn.” And as she walked past him, the little cutie tried to poke Daddy as she said, “Oh, is that a bear in there? Does Daddy have a bear in his underwear?”
I lost it at this point. Between fits of laugher I told her there was no bear and we needed to leave Daddy alone. She then proceeded to go back in the bathroom to inform him he also needed to sit down, or he would make a big mess. Isn’t it funny the things kids pick up on? And why assume a bear? It was all very innocent, and my little neat-freak is concerned about anyone being messier than they need to be, but why the sudden interest? I guess it may be time to end our “open door” policy on the bathroom. And it sure is going to be fun if she gets a baby brother in a few days!
(Also, she did eventually drop the bear idea, but not right away. I think she was just jealous that Daddy might have a bear that she didn’t know about. I’m sure there’s some sort of psychological connection in that…)

The Daring Kitchen
