Children ask so many questions. Some questions are easy to answer, but sometimes the questions they ask leave us dumbfounded and we do not know how to answer, like “Mommy, which part of your body did I come from?” or “How was I made?”

My five-year-old boy is always fascinated by the “Lion Dance”, an event that happens every Chinese New Year. He first saw the Lion Dance when we went to Malaysia in 2006 to celebrate Chinese New year with my husband’s relatives. He was three years old then and afraid at first, but he got over his fear. Since then, he always anticipates Chinese New Year.

We celebrated Chinese New year last year in Malaysia and we bought him a Lion Dance costume and he was very happy. We recorded a Lion Dance performance in the hotel we were staying. Since we’ve come back home, he has asked me every day to play the record and he will imitate the dance.

Last Saturday, we went to a mall and there was a Lion Dance performance. My son got excited, so we went to see the show. He was watching intently and as the head of the lion moved, so would his head. I was watching him more than the professional dancers!

After the show he told me, “Mommy, I want to grow up fast so I can be a lion dancer.”

 I replied, “Yes sweetie, that’s good!”

Then he asked, “How do I grow up?”