The Birds, Bees and Four Year-Old Mind

Well it happened, kind of.  Not so much the dreaded “where do babies come from?” question.  It was a little different. 

Here’s the story:

A friend of mine from work, Andy, invited us to a BBQ on Saturday.  On the way to the BBQ we drove by Liberty Hospital.  As we were driving by, I told Carson “that’s where you were born”.  Who would have thought something so innocent would have lead to the following question.  “Mommy, how do babies get out of their mommy’s tummys?”  YIKES!!  I look to Dan for support, but none was to be found.  He was really really concentrating on the road.  I think he even had white knuckles.  However, I know the issue wasn’t the traffic or the weather.  No support there.  So I told Carson that sometimes doctors cut the babies out of their mommy’s tummys or they get out the natural way (I told him where they come out).  That answer lead to Carson asking, “what’s a bagina?”   I could hardly stand it.  So I explained to him that it’s something girls have instead of a penis.  That seemed to satisfy him.  Until the next day.  Out of nowhere he says “Mommy did Meals come out of your bagina?”, “Yes, and so did you”.  That was followed by a “GROSS!!!”

I’ve always told myself I would be honest with my children.  But, I wasn’t ready for this kind of question.  I mean, he’s 4!  I can just imagine him going to school and telling all his friends about babies coming out of baginas.  Something similar happened when he asked me if everyone dies.  I told him everyone dies eventually but they are usually very old.  He was nice enough to go to school and enlighten his friends.   He came home and said “I told Kaleb that everyone dies and he cried!”  Great! 

Speaking of death…  Carson told me he wanted a fish and when the fish dies he wants a bird.  I asked him what he would name the fish and he told me “fishy”, I then asked him what he would name the bird and he told me…are you ready for this…he said he would name him Frank.  Just kidding!  He would name him birdy.  I guess that would be better than naming it Bagina.