Kids Say the Darndest Things

My coworker, Joanna and I at our joint awesome work baby shower and some of the kids feeling the baby on the playground.

As you know, I work in what in MO is called an early childhood center..... basically a pre-k program as a Speech Language Pathologist. So I work with children ages 3-5 with autism, severe disabilities, articulation disorders (difficulty saying sounds correctly), stuttering and more. Since I'm in a school I have access to and see lots of "typical" kids as well in the hallways and randomly throughout the day. I love kids and I love what I do. Here's a few of my favorite baby related stories to tell you why:

1. Since I've been showing the kids love to point to my belly and say things like, "You have a baby in your belly." I usually confirm their statement and say, "You're right. I do have a baby in my belly." That's usually the end of it. However, one day a class was lining up after lunch and after the usual comments, one bright little boy looked at me and asked seriously, "How you going to get it out?" I smiled and answered, " You're going to have to ask your mommy that question. Ask her how you came out." He looked at me for a moment and gave me a decisive nod indicating he certainly would. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in his kitchen that night. I retold the story to a coworker and she said, "at least he didn't ask you how it got in there." Now that would have been interesting!

2. One of my 3 year olds looked at me and asked me, "you still got that baby in your tummy?" I said, "Yes, I do." He responded, "Open your mouth" and proceeded to open his to show me how. I asked him why and said, "I want to see your baby." It was adorable.

3. I see a 5 year old boy with Autism who communicates around a 2-3 year old level and who is usually not very perceptive about anything outside of his world. At this point, I am 8 months pregnant and huge and sit in preschool chairs constantly. So today, I attempted to get up out of the preschool chair and while doing so held my belly and rose slowly. Now this 5 yr old who I treat looked at me and said, "You ok?" It was unbelievably precious and a great day for him!

4. I see a group of 3 kiddos who are either receiving therapy for stuttering or for articulation (difficulty making sounds appropriately). Today, one of the little boys asked me, "Why is that baby still in your tummy?" I responded with, "Because the baby isn't ready to come out." He asked, "Who's going to get him out?" I answered, "The doctor and I will do it." He followed with, "Who's going to drive you to the doctor?" And my resonse was, "My husband." He gave me a puzzled look like he didn't understand what a husband was, so I added, "the daddy. The baby's daddy." He looked at me and pointing to the other little boy next to me asked, "Why can't he be the daddy?" I couldn't help smiling amidst these very serious questions and answered, "He's not old enough to be a daddy." To which boy #2, said strongly, "But I'm five!" I couldn't stop myself from laughing......Kids really do say the darndest things!

5. Prior to moving to St. Louis, I treated in spanish fairly frequently, but since moving here the spanish speaking population is significantly less than Atlanta. Recently, however, I started treating a little 3 year old spanish speaking girl who is precocious as all get out and since my spanish has significantly decreased since moving here with my lack of use not to mention her speech delays, sometimes I don't have any idea what she's saying. Today, however, she was saying good bye to me in front of her dad. She ran back to give me a hug and then immediately went to kiss my belly. As she was walking away I heard her telling her dad in spanish, "there's a baby in her tummy." It was too cute! Since that day, everytime she says good bye to me, she gives me a hug and kisses my belly. Just precious.

6. One day on the playground, there was a group of preschoolers asking me why I hadn't had the baby yet. And I said, "it's up to the baby when he/she comes." The little girl looked at me and said, " you should tell the baby to hurry up." I was thinking I wish I could, but instead said, "When I do have the baby, you won't see me anymore because I'll have to go to the hospital and then stay home to take care of the baby." One of the little boys in a room I work in said, "But you can bring the baby here to meet me." Then, another girl looked up at me and said, "You should call my mom." I responded with, "What should I say to her?" She answered," You can ask her to babysit. She babysits a lot!"

7. My last week of work, the kids repeatedly asked me, "you STILL have that baby in your tummy?" Evidently, they're as ready as I am to meet our little one. I told them that maybe they could help get the baby out by talking to it. So on my last day of work, when I walked down the hall all I heard was. "Come out baby!!" in a chorus of 4 and 5 year old voices. I'll miss those voices, but it sure feels nice to be done with the school year :)