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It's that question many parents dread.

"Mom, Dad, where do babies come from?" my daughter asks at the dinner table last night.

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that she waited until 4 and a half to ask it. Our friends who had a second baby when their first was 2 or 3 had to answer the question much earlier.

Of course, comprehension levels are a bit sketchier at the toddler stage, too.

Annie is old enough now to make more connections and leaps about reproductive activity.

The conversation all started because a neighborhood girl "got a new baby brother." I was filling in my husband over make-your-own burrito night at the dining table.

"Do babies come from your tummy?" Annie persisted.

Husband looks at me, a deer caught in the headlights.

I look at him.

"Uh, yeah," I mumble, chewing my tortilla. "Babies grow in the tummy."

Then, the inevitable follow-up.

"But how do babies get OUT of the tummy?" Annie queries.

Husband suddenly finds the hot sauce label fascinating reading.

I think carefully, and then come up with this unfortunate analogy.

"Well you know how you grunt and push a poop out of your bottom? Kind of like that. You push and push and out comes a baby."

"Babies come out of your bottom?" Annie asks wide-eyed.

"Not exactly."

"Out of your leg?"

"No."

"Hey, daddy wanna hear about day at school?"

Whew! Thank goodness for the 5-minute attention span.

But I know I am only off the hook until the next Q and A session.

I just hope the question is not HOW do babies get in the tummy.