We’ve begun asking our two-year-old daughter how she’d feel about acquiring a sister or brother. Last night while I was diapering her, she said, “I want a baby.”
“You want a baby?” I said.
“I want a baby!” she said.
“What kind of baby?”
“A Jewish baby,” she said.
I wasn’t sure I’d gotten that.
“You want a what?”
“I want a Jewish baby,” she said. Then amended it: “A Jewish king.”
Now I was sure of what I was hearing, but I wasn’t sure I was awake.
My wife entered as I finished snapping the child’s hippo jammies.
My wife said, “Did I just hear what I think I heard?”
“Uh huh,” I said.
Our attentiveness pleased our daughter.
“I want a Jewish king,” she said.
“Okay, honey,” I said to our daughter, “you’re freaking us out a little bit, now.”
She grinned to show she understood. “Jewish king!” she said.
Children say strange things, many of them meaningless. No doubt that’s the case here. Still, this morning I started checking real estate listings in Bethlehem. Just to be on the safe side.
