As I have mentioned numerous times on this blog recently, I had a baby shower at my house for my friend Megan Saturday. On Friday, Joshua was watching me as I did some cleaning in preparation for the party. Though I had told him before, he asked me why we were having a party.
“Because Miss Megan’s going to have a baby and we’re going to give her presents she can use for the baby.” I replied.
He thought about that for a second, then out popped THE question: “Mommy, how does the baby get out of the mommy’s tummy?”
I froze, and wished I could hide behind the broom I was holding. “Uh…well… you know how your pee-pee is different than a girl’s pee pee?”
He nods.
“Well, mommies have a special place for a baby to come out where they go pee-pee.”
My answer TOTALLY blew Joshua’s mind. His eyes got HUGE and he jumped a little, like he was startled, and he drew his breath in and made a little – huh! – gasp.
“That’s just the way God made mommies’ bodies, so they can have babies. Isn’t that cool?”
Joshua nodded, still wide-eyed and mute. At this point I was afraid I had scarred the kid for life, so I did whatever I do when I have a serious problem: I ran to my laptop and IMed Emily. The following is our IMversation:
Jenny says: OMG Joshua just asked me how babies get out of the mommy’s tummy
Emily says: tell him the doctor gets them out.
Emily says: and then when he questions you further, tell him they come out where mommy goes potty
Emily says: and then watch the look of revulsion on his face
Emily says: bdtd
Jenny says: i DID tell him it comes out where mommy’s go potty!! and he was SHOCKED!
Emily says: wow, great minds think alike!
Jenny says: his eyes got HUGE
Emily says: Now just wait until he tells Bobby that, and watch the look of shock on HIS face.
Jenny says: hee hee can’t wait!!
I was glad to know that my answer wasn’t too far off what Emily would have said! I tried to get Joshua to tell Bobby about it later that night, but he was NOT saying a word. He did NOT want to talk about it. Then I thought a minute and told him his head was too big too fit out where mommy went pee-pee and the doctor had taken him out of a hole in my tummy. He liked THAT explanation much better. You could totally see the relief on his face. Hilarious!!
So readers, how did you (or will you) answer this question? Because if it hasn’t come up yet… trust us, it will!
We have a book that we got when I was preggo the second time and talked about it with my oldest. Oddly she wasn’t really phased by it. But I lived in fear during the entire Christmas season that she would ask me what a virgin is.
I think I would have said what you did.
I know I’ll have to face it someday!
Unfortunately, when I was pregnant with our second child, my daughter came up with her own answer, after watching too many episodes of “A Baby Story” on TLC. She told her preschool teacher that I was going to have a baby, and it was going to come out of my hiney in the bathtub. Yep, makes a momma proud…
my kids know…pretty much told them the same thing. I’d rather cross that bridge while they are young than later!
I really don’t know how I would answer it, since I have to have c-sections. I don’t want to completely scare my son!!! I am going to have to go to borders and grab a book. there has to be a book out there somewhere…
I told my daughter pretty much the same thing when she finally asked. Though, being a girl, I don’t think it was as much of a shock to her.
To start, I just told my kids that mommies have an extra hole. That bought me some time until I had to go into more graphic detail! And, I have NOT told my son anything more than that. Oh goodness, I’m dreading the things he’ll have to say!
They come out of WHERE?!!
Oh no, I have a better one…my 4 and 6yo’s caught out Maltese’s in a state of “bliss” and they came running and said, “Uh, Mommy, we have a problem here! Payton and Sammy have their butts stuck together!” (Sorry Emily! He was named when we got him, I swear!) Then, when they “unstuck their butts” the 6yo said, “Mommy! Sammy has something red on him, oh, never mind…” His poor face was bright red when he realized what he had pointed out! Though they never did put two and two together and realize thats why we have 3 adorable little puppies now!
My kids were ok with it. We also had a book (God’s design for Sex series–although I didn’t read them to them at their recommended ages–I delayed them a lot which was ok b/c they weren’t exposed to a school bus ride!)
But oh my gosh. The look of horror when my dh explained periods to my son. We had to somehow get him to stop pestering his sister to go swimming all the time so she could quit lying about why she didn’t want to go! Very early in the conversation Nick had a “Joshua look” with wide eyes, put his hand up and said, “You can STOP there. I don’t need to know any more!!!”
Your mom advised me (or my mom, and she told me, anyway, it came from your mom), only answer the child enough to suffice their curiosity. However, I know Joshua is quite curious… so good luck with that!