"Does My Tummy Look Fat In This?"

The other night at dinner, Dumpie pushed his plate away and refused to eat anymore.

"I don't want to be fat" said my three and a half year old.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, hoping I had somehow misheard.

"I.  Don't.  Want.  To.  Be.  Fat." repeated Dumpie, this time pausing dramatically between words to make sure I got the message.

"But my darling, you are NOT fat!  Why would you think you're fat?"

Dumpie hopped down from the table and stood before me, jutting his gorgeous Winnie-the-Pooh-esque belly toward me and lifting up his shirt.

"See.  Big tummy."

We looked at his precious little tummy together and I stifled a giggle. He was serious.  I just wanted to kiss it.  Where on earth has this recent preoccupation come from??

Eggie joined in and said, "I don't want to be fat either.  Am I fat Mama?"

A long and serious conversation followed whereby I attempted to maintain a straight face and explain that they were both skinny and had absolutely no reason to be worried about their weight.  Watching them pull up their respective t-shirts and measure tummies mid-speech was priceless...especially as Dumpie, still only three, has a high, round tummy and Egg a svelte one.

Thinking this issue had been put to rest, I was most disconcerted to be asked last night by Dumpie, totally out of the blue, "Mama, how can I get skinny?"

Urghh.