Babies and Torah

This is how the story goes: before we are born we know the whole Torah.  Not just the bits that were written down, but even the oral Torah.  When we are born, an angel reaches down and pinches our upper lip to make us forget.  That's why you have that little "Cupid's bow" on your upper lip.  So when we are teaching our children, we are really just helping them to remember.  When we study, we need to reach inside ourselves for the clues that can float up from the time when we knew the whole blue print for the universe.  Each person we encounter possibly holds an important clue for us even if they don't realize it.

My nephew's wife Yuki is in the last stages of a pregnancy.  She became very worried when she found out that the baby was breech.  The doctor thought that they might have to help him come out with a C-section.  I told her what my mother would've: tell the baby that it's time to turn around.  Explain to him that it will make the birth go much more smoothly.  That is what my mother did with my brother John and he listened.  So Yuki went into the hospital expecting to have a C-section but they sent her home.  The baby had turned around, so he can come out when he wants to.  Good boy.  Way to listen to your mama.

Do not  underestimate the phenomenal potential of little kids to learn.  They are paying attention even before they learn the standard modes of communication.  Don't dismiss them and shoo them away to go watch TV, take this chance while you have the time to try to figure out which of their clues you need and vice-versa.  They don't have jobs, they have plenty of time to figure stuff out with you.  Not only that, they are infinitely entertaining.  We need to remember to be good mamas and listen to our babies.