Where Do Babies Come From?

For the second half of his kindergarten year and all of 1st grade,  my son attended the private school where I was the principal. I felt lucky we were able to share our morning and afternoon commute to and from school when we would have some of the most interesting one-to-one discussions. On the way home one day when he was in 1st grade, he called to me from the back seat, "Mommy, did you know people come from eggs?" 

Caught off guard a bit, I looked back at him through the rearview mirror furrowing my brow. Hmm... I wondered where this had come from, and worse yet, where it was going. He was too smart for me to skirt the issue, so I responded the only way that seemed appropriate. "Um, sort of. But not really. We don't hatch from eggs." He returned my look of befuddlement, waiting for an explanation. My husband and I decided early on, there would be no lying. No cutesy names for our body parts, no lies to avoid difficult conversations. Our son was very smart and just as inquisitive. He would always get the truth. "It is true, in a way, human beings come from eggs. But it's not what you think. Moms don't lay eggs, and babies don't hatch." I stopped with each piece of information, waiting for when he heard enough. Sometimes we explain too much out of our own discomfort when the basics are just enough to satisfy the curiosity of our little ones.  At this point he still wanted more.

"So what does happen?" he asked.

How could I simplify this? How could I give him just enough truth so he'd understand and know enough of what was appropriate for a boy his age. "Inside, mommies have eggs. And inside daddies there are sperm, which are little swimmy things that meet the eggs. When a sperm and an egg meet, they make a baby." I was already trying to formulate where I would go next. What could I possibly say to expound on this process without stepping beyond what I felt a 6-year-old needed to know? Holding my breath, I hoped this next piece would be enough. "That's why mommies and daddies sleep in the same bed." Ugh, I already wanted to take it back for fear of what he would ask next. I feared I had rounded a corner and couldn't turn back. I glanced at him again in the mirror, waiting for his response and trying to read his face. Then in true little boy fashion, he put his mommy out of her misery with a single word.

"Oh."