Okay, so Lilly is four years old and I’m already finding it difficult to answer the many, many questions that she has. She is in a newly intelligent phase of wanting to understand things. Tonight Bill put her to sleep as usual (after reading a book about machines and Curious George) and we were cleaning up when 5 minutes later Lilly calls me in to her room to ask me these questions:

L: “Mommy, what are spiders made of?”

Me: Well, spiders are a living thing so they are made from similar things like you and me…

L: “No, but if there were no spiders in the world, then how did they even get here?”

Me: …pause…okay, say something smart Kristy…blah blah blah something about evolution

L: “And what if there was an animal that only ate spiders but there were no spiders?”

Me: Then that would be really sad because the animal wouldn’t survive since there’s nothing left for it to eat. That’s why we have to take special care of all living things.

L: “Okay, goodnight, Mommy.” (satisfied with my answers for now)

Not only will I not be able to help her with math once she reaches the 3rd or 4th grade (that will be Bill’s territory), but I am finding the ‘simple’ day to day tasks of answering her questions and stimulating her curiosity to be a full time job!