The anatomy of... anatomy...

Caution: Below is a story about the kinds of things my kids will kill me for writing about when they get old enough. But, it's too funny not to share it!

A couple of weeks ago I was changing Titus's diaper. Little 'nurse' Leeann loves to be around and scope things out whenever something gross is happening (like poo or vomit) or when she sees an owie (a rash or scratch etc.) So, she was kind of hovering over me as I was trying to clean a particularly stubborn diaper mess. Leeann looked up at me and ever-so-matter-of-factly asked, "Why does Titus have poo poo on his tail?"

I laughed so hard I almost cried and she laughed with me though she didn't quite understand why she was laughing. I didn't correct her then and there because I wanted to chat with Rob about it first, so I half answered the question and went on with our day.

As Rob and I were talking about it later we both recalled hearing at both our foster care training classes, and at a child abuse protection class how important it is to help your children understand the correct terminology for anatomy so that they can accurately and clearly describe what happened if an abuse were to take place. Anyway, we agreed it was time to have a chat with Leeann to help her understand, but we just kind of left it at that.

Well, this morning Leeann and Titus took a bath and as I was putting lotion on him, she began commenting about his tail again. I told her it wasn't a tail, and described to her, with appropriate terminology, the difference between a boy and a girl. After a few minutes of questions and comments it finally seemed to click with her and then she looked up at me and said. "I have a _________!" Then she proceeded to rattle off a list of her friends and associated their anatomy to their name.

It's cute enough in her bedroom, but I'm just imagining her prancing around the store asking people what they have, or worse yet, stating for them what they have. So, we ended the conversation talking about how God made some things private and personal and who it's appropriate to talk to about private things. Of course, here I am blogging about it... hmm...