We're about two minutes late leaving the house to get to preschool today and Mikey drops this on me......
Mikey: "Mommy? Who made robots?"
Me: "Humans make robots."
Mikey: "But. Mommy. If humans make robots, who makes humans?"
Me, not quite paying attention in the rush to get out of the house: "Mommies and Daddies make babies."
Mikey: "I KNOW that. How come you tell me that all the time? I meant, who MADE humans?"
I stop what I'm doing. I tell him about how babies are made all the time? Hmm. He kinda asks about that a lot. Maybe I do. But, what was that other thing? Huh? Who made humans?
Who made HUMANS? Now. You ask that question NOW!?!?!?
So, I attempted to explain evolution to a 4 year old while rushing out the door to preschool. He told me that he didn't get it. Monkeys don't just turn into humans, he said.
I tried to elaborate in the truck on the way....but, that didn't quite work out. The conversation worked it's way into dinosaurs and then back into robots. Then it was completely lost when Mikey brought up WALL-E and how come he hadn't watched the whole movie yet.
It's TIME that's the problem. He doesn't understand time. I could say "a long, long, long, long, very long time ago" and that means, like, yesterday to him.
I promised him that when he got home from preschool I would show him some pictures that would help him understand (i.e. Lucy). I'm just hoping that he's still interested.
On the way home, after dropping him off, I was pondering my explanation.
Realizing the enormity of it all, I felt humbled.
We all came from somewhere. We didn't start where we are now. And our generations to come won't stay put. They'll move too.
Life is amazing.
Okay. Not my life. The only spiciness in my life comes on taco night.
