Luke was in bed tonight, cuddling with his stuffed sheep. Chris was tucking him in...
"Daddy, I love my sheep."
"I like your sheep too, Luke."
"Does Jesus love sheep?"
"Yes, and Jesus loves you too."
"Jesus takes care of me, and I take care of my sheep."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Does Jesus love babies?"
"Yes, He loves all the babies."
"Does Jesus have little Jesus babies?"
....
......
".......No, Jesus doesn't have babies, but He makes the babies. He made you when you were a baby and gave you to mommy and daddy."
And so, Chris got presented with the first Quick Thinking Award of 2010.
Which almost made up for the conversation he had with Luke about 30 minutes earlier...
Mythbusters was on and they were laying out some raw chickens (heads and feet still attached) on a tanning booth to see if they would actually start to cook after prolonged exposure. Which they didn't, incidentally.
Now, Luke has seen me carve a whole chicken before. And of course, he has seen actual, live chickens. But what Luke hasn't seen is a raw chicken (that he associates with food) looking quite so much like a live chicken (that he associates with farms and petting zoos and various animated features).
"Those chickens are dead?"
"Yes, Luke, they're dead."
"We eat 'em?"
"Yes, we eat them."
"We don't eat chickens!"
"Yes we do. Chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets..."
"No! Chickens are nice! Chickens are animals!"
Chris looks to me for help, but I just arch a brow...expecting him to come up with something clever to get out of the hole he dug and calm our now visibly upset four year old.
Instead, I hear:
"Well, Luke...sometimes, we eat animals..."
"NO!" I'm screaming from across the room before I can stop myself, and both of them look up at me in shock. I give Chris a significant look and he silently acknowledges that perhaps Luke is a little too young to be able to accept this concept with anything less than pure, unadulterated horror.
Besides, chicken is a major staple in this house and we'd be in trouble if the kids suddenly refused to eat the stuff.
Fortunately, Luke let the subject drop there.
Thank God for miracles, great and small.
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