Body Parts, Part II

Body Parts, Part II

         

 

       Drew likes boobs, a lot. He was constantly trying to grab at mine when he was about three years-old. I had told him that they were mine and that we don’t touch other people in inappropriate ways and that boob grabbing constituted ‘inappropriate’. He was of the opinion that we should share my boobs because that would be nice. I didn’t get on board with this idea so I tried to use a little reverse psychology on the boy by telling him that I don’t grab his penis so he is not allowed to grab my boobs. To my shock and utter dismay he stuck his little hips out to me so that I would see that he was willing to share. Okay, more talking and explaining of why this was just not going to work the way he wanted. He has got the idea of sharing down but we aren’t going to share that.  Ah, little boys.      

     

          When Alex was little, maybe three years-old, he had told me he wanted to see my penis. I guess that seemed like a rational request to him since I had seen his every day of his life. I explained that I was a girl and didn’t have a penis and this seemed like a perfectly rational explanation to me and should end the conversation. Okay, I was a new mother and hadn’t seen the rest of the questions coming at me. He, of course, wanted to know why I didn’t have one, how could I possibly pee without one and what had I in place of the penis in question. Hmmm…I finally told him that I was not prepared to have this conversation with him yet and that we would revisit it at a later time in the far, far off future. How funny that Drew some nine years later started asking the same thing of me. He thought we should share my boobs because sharing was nice so the penis question was right up his alley. I told him that boys have a penis and girls have a vagina…no I didn’t really say that, that was that boy from ‘Kindergarten Cop’…what I said was that girls don’t have a penis. To that he and Adam both looked at me quizzically and Drew asked "How do they pee then?" Adam came up with the answer. "Girls pee out their butts." As uncomfortable as I was with this subject I corrected him as much as I could and told them both, as I had told Alex in the years earlier, we will talk about it when they are older. They go to public school, I may never have to have that conversation with them.

 

           We live in the Midwest and it does get cold here. Snow and ice are right at home in the winter months. Happily we have a fireplace in our living room and it is kept roaring in the winter. To sit on the hearth after being outside is a favorite thing of my sons. Sitting there to warm up is sometimes not enough for Drew. After a romp outside he came in, went to the fireplace, stood on the hearth and, with his back to the fire, pulled his pants down, underwear and all, to warm his behind. I looked at him with what must have been the most unintelligent look ever to grace my face and said "What do you think you’re doing?" He smiled and just stood there for another second, pulled up his drawers and went about his business. I know that those layers of cotton and denim can really hinder heat flow but really? To moon the fireplace? From my girl’s perspective, it’s such a foreign idea.