Yesterday, while driving home from the Tulip Festival and a relaxing weekend with Granny and Papa, Chase asked us, “How did Sawyer come out of your tummy?”. This is not the first time Chase has brought this subject up, before he turned 3 he went through a phase of pointing out all of the people in the world who had penises and those who did not- most of the time he even got them right. When I was pregnant, a lot of questions were asked, and we answered them as simply as possible. He mostly wanted to know how Sawyer got in there. But, with Kindergarten coming up, we want Chase to understand a little more about his body and about respecting it. I have been to a couple of seminars about talking to your kids (at different ages) about this. In one of these classes the instructor told us about a series of books that she recommends very highly, the first book is for 4 year olds. So, we went to University books this morning and got it. We waited until Sawyer’s nap to read it. It was basic, very simple, easy to understand and completely age appropriate. It was a 60 page book and he sat with me for about 40 minutes listening, looking at the pictures and asking questions. There was one paragraph that described intercourse and he looked at me and said, “That’s a weird thing to do”, I had to agree. When we got to the section about the birthing process (which I think he wanted to know about this the most) the book also mentioned C-sections, which I really appreciated because that is how 11 pound babies come out of a body. I showed him where my incision (or cut) had been and he asked me if it hurt. I told him that I didn’t even feel it because the nurse gave me medicine to numb my body. When he heard the word medicine, he perked up a bit and asked me, “what flavor was it?”. Chase LOVES medicine! He thinks it tastes like candy! I had to stop and hug him! And, because it was such a heavy topic and he did so well with all of this information, I told him the medicine was grape. He deserved a fact that was fun and familiar, I didn’t want to disappoint him.
I am not sure exactly what this information means to him, but he asked and that made us happy that he felt he could. There are so many times that I look at Chase and I see this boy where my baby once was, it happened over night, but it didn’t. He is such a boy now! I don’t even know what to do with him half of the time, because he is into crazy boy things now. but, then we have a moment (and we still have quite a few of them) when I see how little he still is. It’s when he asks me what flavor the medicine was or when he asks me if monsters drive monster trucks or when he cries because you ran out the door without his hug and kiss (even though you shout good-bye 5 times and he is completely caught up in what he is doing and doesn’t seem to care that you are leaving, until you are half way down the driveway and he comes running out in his underwear, crying that he wants his hug and kiss and wants to stand in the living room window and wave good-bye to you). I love him. I just love him. I just want to go and crawl in his bed with him right now and hold him close and kiss his sweet head, and if I didn’t just have a conversation with him today about inappropriate behavior and touching, I would.