Anatomy 101 (for 2 year-olds)

Setting scene: Big walks into the living room carrying her beloved pink bunny in her arms. He is wrapped up in her blankie (like a baby) and she is carrying a dolly baby bottle in the other hand. I am sitting on the couch pumping (imagine that....its my #1 pass time these days). She walks over to me, observes what I'm doing (nothing she hasn't seen 80,000,000 times before) and speaks...

Big: Hi Mommy

Me: Hi Big! Whatcha got there?

Big: Its bunny. He hungwy. I gonna feed him.

Me: Ohhhh, OK...sounds good. You're such a good Mommy Big!

Big: Yeah. (she says, showing obvious pride in her fabulous mothering abilities)


She then raises the bottle to bunny's mouth and pauses, looking at me very thoughtfully for a minute. I can see the wheels turning, but she doesn't give me any sign of what she's thinking...I wait for her to speak.


Big: (puts bottle down) Mama, bunny wike my miwk...he wanna dwink my miwk, wike (Little).


"Oh!" I say, a little taken aback by the fact that she's going to attempt to breastfeed her bunny, but its not like she hasn't seen me nursing her sister and pumping for the last 4-1/2 months, so I decide that this is a good thing. I decide that I'm proud of her for being so observant and open minded, in fact, I think its great that she finds nursing nurturing, and thinks of it as the way that mommies feed their babies. "She really gets it." I think, admiring how smart my little girl is, and also proud of myself for teaching her that there is nothing offensive or awkward about breastfeeding your baby. It was a win-win moment for me.

So I watch her, as she puts the dolly bottle down on the table and raises her dress up over her head to get in prime nursing position. I'm glowing with pride as she takes bunny out of his blankie, thinking about how I can share this great moment with my daughter, and tell Grandma about it later when we see her. "She'll be so impressed," I think, as I watch her raise her bunny up and start to nurse him...from her belly button. I swear, I nearly died stifling my laughter. Suffocation was a mere 3 seconds away...I needed a paper bag...or something to shield my face while I laughed hysterically...anything...STAT! I thought I would burst.

Sooooooo, it looks like we may actually have a few more anatomy lessons ahead of us, which is probably a good thing since she's only two. Either way, my Big girl is a very good mommy to her bunny, and it turns out that bunny didn't mind her nursing method at all...he even let out a nice resounding burp when he was finished. She was very proud. So was her mommy.