The Birds & The Bees, The Facts of Life, Oh Boy...

I think I was a little more prepared when my daughter started to asked me questions about how babies were born and why bodies parts looked a certain way but I haven't quite been too successful with my son. It might be that, well quite frankly, my daughter (and I feel awful for saying this) is brighter. She's a very smart girl, very perceptive and inquisitive. Not that my son isn't smart, he is, but in a different way. He's the one with all the imagination, the builder, and his curiosity is different.

Up until recently, he never really verbally has asked too much about body parts or where babies are born - the basic birds and bees. He, has of course, been fixated on his penis - first as a toddler in the bathtub and as a pre-schooler, sorted as a toy - running around the house naked being silly. He has also asked questions about my breast but mostly about nursing and what are they used for ... type of questions.

So the other night (and coicidently, the same time Natalie and I were having a discussion about Virgins and the "S" word - no we didn't actually go into any explanations, it was more like a facts gathering mission for me) when Noah came bouncing downstairs completely naked and ran up to me to asked a question about his discoveries, I pointed to dad and said that perhaps, he would be a better source to explain since I don't have one of those.

Come to find out, what he discovered were tiny little ball sacs. David described to him what was what and implored him to NOT squeeze them, like Noah wanted to. Oh yea, you can definitely imagine the holding back of laughter between my husband and I.

Fast forward to yesterday (my husband is away at a conference) - Noah is hanging out with me, getting ready for bed and he starts talking about his testicles, well as he put it, his little balls. "Look mom, these are my balls, what's inside them?"

So without thinking that he would want to KNOW MORE, I said "when you gets older, they will have sperm, these little tiny, wiggly guys and they will help make babies."

"Oh you mean eggs?"

"Nope, sperm, only girls have eggs."

"What are sperm for?"

"They help make babies with the eggs,when mommy and daddy want to have a baby, they love each other."

"You mean when you kiss daddy?"

"Uh, well, not exactly."

"Then how?"

"Uh, you know, it's not the right time to talk about this?

"Why, because it's inappropriate it?"

I was going to say yes but then thought twice about it. I didn't want him to associate his questions with being inappropriate. So as I was hestitating, I suddenly said ... "because it's late and you are supposed to be getting ready for bed, so hurry and finished when you need to do to get ready."

Whew!!!

I know - it's inevitable. It's a little easier with my daughter - maybe because I know the physiology better or just the type of person that she is makes it easier to have those types of conversations. Although my husband and I haven't talked about this yet, I think the duty of passing on the facts of life will be dutifully split up - father and son, mother and daughter.

Btw, at what age do parents begin to be a little more modest around their children of the opposite sex? I'm guessing around 9 years old?

Well, I couldn't have a conversation about the Facts of Life, without including the opening theme song from the beloved 80's tv show.

So without further adu - You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have ....