Do kittens have belly buttons?

I am coming to the conclusion that young children are God's way of both keeping us on our toes, and reminding us we don't know everything. Anyone who doesn't think God has (a sometimes ironic) sense of humor has never been a parent of young children.

This morning, about halfway through my first cup of coffee, my daughter Charlotte (almost 5 going on 15) looks right at me and asks, "Mommy, do kittens have belly buttons?" I simply stopped mid-swallow and stared at her. Where on earth do these questions come from? Does God just drop them in our kids' brains to see if we're paying attention?

Now, I like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent adult, above average, even - I majored in Psychobiology in college and graduated magna cum laude. And I haven't the foggiest clue whether or not kittens have belly buttons. All the biology courses I took and I'm stumped. (Incidentally, the kitten obsession took hold when a friend's cat had 6 kittens - every day she manages to sneak in the "mommy can I have a kitten" question).

So, I Google "cat, belly button" wondering what on earth my husband will think if he ever checks the online history. Those Google guys deserve their millions - how did I live without it?
Turns out my daughter was not the first to ask, and it's not as silly as it sounds to wonder. I learned that all mammals have a belly button (or umbilicus, to get technical) because all mammals grow in utero attached to an umbilical cord. A cat's belly button is in pretty much the spot you'd expect to find it, but it looks more like a line instead of round. Since it's also covered in fur it's somewhat hard to see.

I told my daughter this, she was pleased and happy to have the right answer and went on about her business. In a way, it's comforting to know that my daughter follows in my footsteps as a "seeker." Sometimes if you listen hard enough, you can almost hear God's laughter....