Have you ever been in the situation where your little one starts rambling, and suddenly you panic about what’s going to come out of his mouth next? I was sitting in a New York hospital playroom with Jacob, a social worker, two volunteers and three nurses. I was only half listening to Jacob’s chatter when out of the blue, I catch a few words that send me into a panic. Oh…my…gosh… where is he going with this explanation? Just to set the scene…

Jacob is playing nicely with – what else – but a box full of plastic animals and bugs. I’m discussing care, logistics, treatment, New York, and other points that are now part of the new Hoffman family life. It is pretty calm, and this is my first meeting with people we will get to know very well over the next year.

Suddenly, Jacob looks up, shows us two turtles and says “I know how you can tell a male turtle from a female turtle.” The conversation comes to a screeching halt, and everyone waits to hear what this four-year-old has to say about the birds and the bees – me included.

Before he opens his mouth, I feel myself turning beet red. All sorts of things quickly run through my head! “Oh my! We’ve never really had a conversation about this… What’s he possibly going to say?… Has he overheard something?… Does he know more than I give him credit for?…Is this what he learned on our trips to the zoo?” Out loud I hear myself chuckle and say with complete curiosity, “Ok Jacob, how do you tell the difference?”

Jacob sets both turtles down, one on top of each other. (And I thought I was red-faced before…what was I thinking!) Then he says to a very captive audience, “This is how you tell a female turtle from a male turtle: You turn them over (which he does) and points to their bottoms. I feel the blood rushing to my face; everyone is giggling. Then he says, “You just read them. [He reads the writing that says ‘Made in China.’] This one says ‘Male’ and this one says ‘Female’.”

The otherwise quiet room is now in a loud uproar. I start to breath again (a HUGE sigh of relief) and laugh along with everyone else. And Jacob is so pleased with the response he got that he proceeds to show us EVERY animal in the box… “This is a male. This is a female,” he explains to his audience.

Until the next red-faced moment,
CMH