Of the Movies and The Birds & The Bees 101

It has been quite some time since we’ve been to the movies as a whole family. My kids were already excited to watch X-Men because Over the Hedge is just not appealing to Papa. Otherwise, it would just be me and kids.

In fact, Papa has never been to the movies since we got married. The record was only broken last week when we both sneaked out to initially watch The Da Vinci Code, but ended up with MI:III just because it was Saturday night at Midvalley.

Adam, sort of aware of this fact asked me if Papa would be surprised to see the big screen because he thought his dad has never been to the movies. He thought it would be like his first time to the movies where he screamed when he saw too many people sharing the big screen with him.

“Abang, Papa would be alright, it’s just that he’s not seen a movie even before you was born”, I told Adam.

“Masa tu Abang inside Papa’s tummy?” he asked back.

“Yeah, something like that” I replied trying to establish the timeline.

Then he started digressing.

“Then Papa took a straw and put on his belly-button, and then he put on Mama’s belly-button, and then put Abang in Mama’s tummy, kan, kan?” his big eyes started to sparkle.

I was stunt at that thought, trying to relate his question to my initial explanation of the duration of time his dad has not been to the movies.

I had to agree with him, though someday I know I have to be creative in explaining to him about the miracles of life and how he came to the world. He has been curious about his existence before, triggered by our wedding pictures and his absence from those shots.

So I just sticked to his 4-year-old imagination first, that he was in Papa’s tummy back then. He knew that if he were in Mama’s tummy, the tummy should be big like all the aunties he’s seen at the hospitals every time we went for my kids checkups. Later, at about 5 years old, he started asking me about how he got transferred into Mama’s tummy.

“Hmm…let’s see, how do you get something so small get into Mama’s tummy?” here I’m trying to expand his imagination.

“Abang tau, use straw!!” because we were having that discussion over lunch somewhere.

“Yeah, that’s it, something like that” I said, just to conform his thoughts to that idea only.

And he gave me a big triumphant smile because he just acquired some wisdom regarding the birds & the bees, and he did all by himself!

Sooner or later, I'd better be prepared for The Birds & The Bees 201...sigh!