Thursday, July 04, 2013

Do YOU have a penis?

I knew this day would come.  I just was hoping that the conversation would happen later on in life....much later.  Little Miss Audrey was sitting on the potty earlier this week and when I passed by bathroom, I was blindsided by:

"Daddy, what do you have on your bottom?" 
Reply: "What do you mean honey?"
"You have a different bottom, what is it?"

I'm sure at this point that I had mixed look of horror and bemusement at this point.  But I figured that as a licensed physician of the state of Minnesota, that I could probably navigate these waters:

"Daddy has a penis on his bottom.  All boys have a penis."
Reply: "I really want a penis."
"Girls don't need a penis sweetie, they can go potty without one."
Reply: "But I really, really, really want a penis."

This is now going differently than I had imagined it might go.  And while this might also be the perfect opportunity for a parent to talk what a vagina might be, I am still wrapping my brain around the last 90 seconds of conversation.  I decide that we will work on one piece of anatomy per conversation:

"Honey, girls are special because they don't have a penis.  Your mom doesn't have a penis because she is a girl too!  Everett and Dad have a penis because they are boys." 
Reply: "Oh, OK." 

2 days later, my 3 year old accosted her grandparents individually.  She has verified "penis status" with each of them. 



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