At the DIA with a four-year-old

We wandered down to the DIA this weekend. We have a membership, it's air-conditioned, and they were having a free presentation titled "Dragon Dreams and Daring Deeds"--yes, geared to kids.

We got there in time to wander over to the temporary Egyptian setup--the usual one was being remodeled or some such, so we went through the Asian/Indian exhibit to our goal. There was a statue, about three feet tall, in the Indian section that caught the girls' notice:

Rachel almost shouted. "Wow, Mom! Look at the size of her--"

Madeleine shushed her, a touch embarrassed.

My curiosity was piqued. Would she use the correct anatomical term? Exactly what had she noticed?

"Rachel," I whispered, taking a knee, "what were you going to say?"

She started to turn pink and flustered, afraid of getting in trouble. Big sister had shushed her, after all. "Honey, it's okay. I'm asking you, so you won't get in trouble. What did you notice that were big? Her what?"

My precious sparkly girl screwed up her courage and looked me in the eye.

"Her earrings."