Madeleine Has Questions

Madeleine has had a lot of questions about the origins of humans and life in the womb lately. 

A few days ago, we had this discussion:

MADELEINE: Mama?  What did I feel like BEFORE I was in your tummy?
ME: Uh...before you were in my tummy?  Well, you didn't feel like anything yet.
MADELEINE: No, Mama, BEFORE I was in your tummy, what did I FEEL like?
ME: You didn't feel like anything.  But when you were in my tummy I could feel you moving around.
MADELEINE: No, but Mama, what did I feel like before I was in your tummy?
ME: What do you mean?
MADELEINE: Like, what did I feel like before I was in your tummy?  Like, what did I feel like when JULIA was in your tummy?
ME: Well, before you were in my tummy, you didn't exist yet.  Can you believe there was ever a time when there was NO Madeleine?
MADELEINE: But Mama.  I still had FEELINGS.

She simply cannot imagine a world in which she does not take part.  Nuh-uh.  There wasn't anything before Madeleine was extant.  She's kind of like God: she has always been present, and has always had feelings, even before she manifested in human form.


Today, we had this conversation:

MADELEINE: (out of the blue) But Mama?  How CAN somebody be an orphan?  Because...an orphan is still ALIVE.
ME: Well, an orphan is someone whose parents are dead.  But the orphan isn't dead. 
MADELEINE: But then why don't orphans know about how things are?
ME: Well, some orphans have to live in an orphanage, where there are lots and lots of kids without homes, and only a small number of grown-ups to take care of them.  Some kids in orphanages are treated really poorly.
MADELEINE: No, but Mama.  What I mean is: an orphan would still know what a FAMILY is.
ME: Well, some orphans do know, you're right.
MADELEINE: (after some serious thought) Well, Mama, I *guess* maybe an orphan WOULDN'T know what a family is if his mom and dad died BEFORE he got to LOOK at them.
ME: Uh, yeah, I guess that's true.
MADELEINE: And Mama?  How do you even MAKE a family?


Before I got roped into going down the "how babies are made" path I artfully changed the subject.  Because we have enough questions as it is.  We don't need to open that whole OTHER can of worms...yet.