Tell Me About. . . Again!

The Lady is a curious sort. Being almost three, she is at that "Why" stage in life. She asks a thousand questions and a thousand follow-up questions. Then she asks you to repeat whatever answer or information that you have provided her, by simply saying "Again!"

I think it is her way of processing. Obviously, she retains the information through repetition. I am often amazed at how many things she remembers that happened months ago, and how that information is seemingly randomly brought back up, while we are driving in the car or walking down the stairs.

I am constantly thinking--what is she thinking?

So, the other morning when we were leaving the house, my husband at the bottom of the stairs, The Lady sliding down the stairs on her moon, and me following behind with the Little Lady, she just blurted out. "Dad, you have a penis."

To which he gave our standard answer, taken from that classic movie "Kindergarten Cop" that yes, girls have vaginas and boys have penises. I am the type of parent who thinks you should just call body parts what they are. Although we do refer to the butt by many names including butt, tush and moonie, we do not say things like "pee-pee," "hoo-hoo" or the dreaded "down there, where the dirty parts are."

This is in part to not confuse our kids. The Lady, for a while was convinced that my husband peed out of his butt and at one point told me he peed "with his finger," this after she walked in on him in the bathroom and saw him holding it while he went. In both cases we had to set her straight.

So last night, while I was checking on her before she fell asleep, I asked if she needed her diaper changed. She told me yes, and then said that she needed some "moonie cream" or diaper cream. I told her we didn't have any within reach and she asked for the lotion that she had liberally applied to her hands minutes earlier that was well within my grasp. I told her that lotion wasn't used for her vagina and that diaper cream was used for diaper rashes on vaginas and penises.

What came out her her mouth next was:

"Mom, tell me about the penis."

Well, Lady where do I begin? The stories I could tell. . . but I digress.

Not entirely sure how to respond, I told her that God made Adam and Eve and he gave Adam a penis and Eve a vagina. I certainly didn't want to get into any sort of creationism vs. Darwin debate, nor did I want to go into other uses the penis and vagina have besides peeing on the potty and getting diaper cream applied, so I picked what I thought would be a somewhat clear answer.

The Lady simply replied, "Again."

So, I told her about three more times about the penis, and I hope for now it will be enough.