Evolution

A few weeks ago I walked in on Jay explaining evolution to Roan. Roan's had a lot of questions about origins lately, and Jay laid it all out for him.  Roan was definitely interested, but you never know how much these things sink in.

This week Roan asked me for an extra glove.

"What for?" I wanted to know.

"For my extra hand," Roan said. "I'm growing another hand."

"Why?"

"Because I need three hands. So I'm going to get one from evolution."

"You're going to evolve a 3rd hand?"

"Yeah. Daddy said that evolution gives us what we need. And I need three hands."

"Oh." I was quiet for a moment, trying not to laugh, and deciding how to play this. I really didn't want to be the one to crush this train of thought.

"You know Roan," I started, "evolution is a really slow process. Even though you need a third hand now, it's going to take a really long time for you, or even future generations, to evolve one."

"I know Mommy," Roan said, sort of exasperated, "Daddy told me. I'm not going to get another hand until I'm 6 or maybe 7. But can you just buy me the extra glove now?"

"Okay."