Weird Science

"And I made two baskets by throwing the way Maddie was throwing, but she didn't make any baskets except one when Papi lifted her up on his shoulders."   Angie finished telling me of her trip to the basketball court with Papi and Maddie as I made appropriate sounds of praise and congratulations.  "Mommy," she added, "Papi says that some people get really really tall because they have a disease.  What kind of disease is it?"  And now I had to explain genetic mutations to a six-year-old.  I paused, looking for the right words. 

"We all have inside of us instructions that tell our bodies how to grow.  The instructions tell our bodies what color hair and skin and eyes we'll have; how tall or short we'll be; how fat or thin.  But in some people the instructions get messed up and the body follows the messed up directions.  So the instruction that says that you should only grow so tall might get changed so that the body thinks it should just keep growing."

"Oh, " she said, nodding her head in understanding.  Then she skipped over to the door and put on her sneakers to go outside.  She stood up and looked back at me.  "But Mommy, they're not like instructions written on paper, right?" 

I smiled at her.  "No, they're not, sweetie."

She giggled.  "I didn't think so.  That would be silly, wouldn't it."  And she raced out the door to dribble the basketball some more.