oh, the hilarity.

The girls and I were watching a show, and the final bit of dialogue was, "Babies don't come from New Jersey! Everyone knows babies come from Philadelphia." I laughed and Lulu giggled. "That's funny, Mommy. Babies come from Philadelphia and New Jersey. And everywhere else."

I said that was right -- babies are born wherever their mommies are. Then Elizabeth asked, "How do babies get into the mommies?"

Now, I think we're open and honest in age-appropriate ways with the girls. The twins, at two, loved to tell people that Charlotte was cut out of my belly -- and they were, too! In fact, our doctor was pregnant when Cha was born and at their appointment, the girls asked her if she was going to have the baby cut out or push it out. We'd talked about eggs and sperm, but it hadn't gotten very technical -- until just tonight.

"Sweetie, remember, women have eggs and men have sperm. And when the sperm and the egg get together, it grows into a baby."

Bebe looked a little stumped. "But, how does the baby get out?"

"Out of the mommy? Well, there are two ways..."

"No. How does the baby get out of the daddy?"

"The baby doesn't come out of the daddy; the sperm comes out of the daddy."

Big sigh. "OK. How does the sperm come out of the daddy?"

In the calmest, most neutral voice I could muster, "The sperm comes out of the man's penis."

Bebe stared at me. Hard. And then she laughed. "Is that a joke, Mommy?"

"No, honey. It's no joke."

"But it is funny. Sperm comes out of the penis! That's funny!"