Boy Parts and Girls Parts

Poor doggy. He's spending the day at the vet and will be an "it" when he comes home. When I dropped him off, I whispered to the receptionist, "He's here to be neutered. Don't tell him."

She said, "He won't hear it from me. As far as I'm concerned, he's here for a spa day."

And when she mentioned the spa day cover story to the tech who came to take Howie away, the tech looked thoughtful and said, "Well, he will get a shave..."

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Last night, Pete asked me this question: "What happens to girls when they are K's age?" K is Pete's 12 year-old friend from down the street. After a little more talking, I realized that Pete was actually asking me about what happens when girls start their periods.

Now, Pete is only 6, remember, and most likely has anywhere from 4 to 8 more years before she will go through that so I hesitated. But only for an instant. I have always believed in being age-appropriately truthful with my children about what is what and how things work when they ask. Sometimes I go overboard - like my extensive explanation of thunder when she was 3, from which she learned simply that thunder is noise, despite my description of the lightning heating the air, blah blah blah. Most of the time I can tell when she feels like her question has been answered and leave the rest of the explanation for later. Last night, she got the whole story (not the part about how babies are actually made - she didn't ask for that). We talked anatomy and calendars and used words like "menses" and "personal" and ended with a list of the people who can help if Mommy's not around when (many years from now) this all happens to Pete. And she listened and asked clarifying questions and seemed satisfied in the end. It was all very grown up.

Sigh...

I think she might know more than her dad does now. Guess I should have the talk with him too...