Tubes

We were travelling to daycare on Friday morning, just Sullivan and I.  Out of the blue, Sullivan asks, "How do Judson and Crew sleep with those things in.  You know, the things we got the balloons for?"  Not clearly understanding her, I probed a little bit before I understood what she was talking about.

To preface the story, Quinn and Sullivan's cousins, Judson and Crew, had tubes put in their ears this week.  Poor babies.  And because we wanted to wish them a speedy recovery, we brought balloons to them.  We weren't able to see them that evening when we dropped them off, so Sullivan and Quinn didn't get to see that the tubes were not necessarily tubes, as they would define them.  

So as I probed her a little, it became clearly that Sullivan was referring to the tubes in the boys' ears.  I asked  her if that was what she meant and she said, "Yeah, how can Judson and Crew sleep when they have tubes sticking out of their ears?"  

So I chuckled out loud. Here in her 3 year old mind, Sullivan is envisioning these boys trying to sleep with long tubes coming out of their ears!  You forget how literal children are until they come across a situation like this!

When I tried to explain that the tubes are very small and inside their body, Sullivan still didn't understand.  She had several follow up questions wondering how Auntie and Uncle were going to get the tubes out of the boys' bodies and why would they put tubes in their bodies if the tubes can't come out. 

Several explanations later, the conversation ended there - with really no resolution to Sullivan's inquiries.  It led us to do a little research when we got home that night as to what the tubes actually looked like. Who would have known that the tubes were so little and not so tube-like?!  Below is a picture of the tube on top of the penny.

Who knows what questions will come out Sullivan's head next? Or what she is thinking!