As is our custom, every Shabbat Raphaela and I meet one of her former Gan classmates (and her mother and sister) at the park in the afternoon, and play together. We had not seen them for several weeks, as the mother recently gave birth to a third child, a sweet little baby boy.
Sitting there on the bench, watching the three girls play, I asked if I could hold the new baby. As soon as he was placed in my arms, he seemed to relax, and the effect reverberated both ways. That combination of a new baby smell, the small-ness and new-ness of everything, it made me feel so quiet and happy inside.
Raphaela came over, tentatively looking at this bundle in my arms, and I asked my daughter if we should take the baby home with us.
Raphaela: No, that is not our baby!
Mommy: Well what if there were another baby inside Mommy's tummy, and then that baby came home with us and stayed with us? You could be a big sister just like your friend.
Raphaela: No! [most definitively] We have a doll at home that is like a baby...[pause for dramatic effect] and the doll even has a stroller. Isn't that enough?
We two mothers smiled at the reaction.
Raphaela: And besides Mommy, you told me that Harry does not like to share his house or his family.
That's right, blame it on the cat...
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