the birds and the bees

How do you explain to your 5-year old where babies come from? Ever since we told H he's going to have a little baby, he's been ecstatic. It is so different from the time when we told him he was going to have a little sister (i.e. L), he wasn't too bothered and was rather disinterested. Along with his enthusiasm comes the dreaded questions. How does the baby come out? How did you put it in your stomach? Etc. etc.

The first question was easy cos for both H and L, I had a C-section. No need to explain about the natural birthing process, I just told him the doctor cut open my stomach and take the baby out. On hind sight, it must have been a little gruesome for him to grasp, imagine the doctor cutting open mummy's stomach. Urggghhh!!!

H: "Then how do you put it back?"
Me: "Put what back?"
H: "Your stomach?"
Me: "The doctor will use a needle and thread to sew it back, just like how you sew clothes"
H: "Is it painful?"
Me: "Yah just a little, but just for a while. It's like when you have a scratch and it hurts but it will heal and it won't hurt anymore"

Then H went silent. I wasn't sure what he was thinking. Maybe I should have just made it simple by saying mummy will go to the hospital and the doctor will take the baby out.

We then went for dinner and on the way, he suddenly asked.

H: "How did it get in there?"
Me: "What get in where?"
H: "The baby"

That sure is a tough question. I wasn't sure how to answer, being caught off guard. And remembering to keep it simple this time, I just blurted, "mummy planted it there". H found this funny, but he's also too smart to take me seriously. "What?!!! How can you plant a baby?"

Luckily he didn't try to probe further, whew!!! I'm sure the question will pop up again. This time I better have a good answer. So how do you explain to a pre-schooler where babies come from? Hmmmm... I need to get a book!