"mom, when can I get a brother?"

"Well, GQ, a little brother for you isn't going to happen.  I'm sorry."

"But I want one, mom."  

"Sorry, GQ, mommy and daddy can't have more babies.  You and Macy (the four-legged-ornery one) are our babies.  And even if mommy had another baby, you wouldn't be guaranteed a brother."

"Really?  Why can't you and daddy have more babies?  Daddy doesn't have them, you would have it, so you don't need him."

Silent pause...

Dad jumps in "It takes a mommy and a daddy to make the baby, GQ."

"How?"

Jumping in and changing the direction of the conversation, I add "Do you really want to share all your toys?  And if we have a girl, that would mean lots of pink and dolls."

Whew...crisis averted.  Not that the Where Do Babies Come From? conversation is a crisis, it's just not something we have time to discuss at 7pm on a school night.  Bed time is just an hour away and as curious as GQ is, I know the conversation and absorption of details might take that hour and more.  

The husband and I have always said we were going to be very honest with GQ about sex and answer his questions as they come, but now that we occasionally get them, I don't know if I'm prepared.  And it's not really preparedness, it's that I don't know what other kids know and I DO know how much GQ talks, so I worry (probably unnecessarily) about his spreading the wealth of his knowledge at recess.  Like I said, I'm sure I'm worrying to much.  I think recess time is time for playing Modern Warfare.  I think that's what he calls it, not sciences lessons.  But as the mother of a child that yelled out the window to our neighbor one day "Hey Nick!  My mommy said the Easter Bunny isn't real, it's just somebody in a costume!"  I worry about these things.  

After doing a little bit of math with GQ, he realized a brother (or sister) in nine months wouldn't mean instant playmate.  It would mean diapers and crying and pacifiers and baby-proofing.  And by the time the baby is seven, like GQ is, GQ would be almost driving.  

YIKES!  Driving!