too much information

Flora is convinced she has a penis.

She will walk around the house holding a chunk of her diaper between her hands saying, "Look my penis!" I guess it's only natural since she bathes with Scout (who does, in fact, have a penis) and often asks, "What dat is, Mommy?" when Scout is naked. I was caught off-guard the first time she asked this question and hadn't yet considered what terms I wanted my children to use for their body parts, so I just told her it was a penis. I think I'm happy with that split-second decision. Maybe I could have thought of something more age appropriate for a 2-year-old if I'd thought more about it, but at least it's not an overly goofy, made-up word that will just embarrass her later in life.

Note to parents of very young children: Start thinking NOW about what you want to label these body parts. The question will sneak up on you, I promise!

We had to stop Daddy-Daughter potty times because one day Flora grabbed a little chunk of diaper between her legs, stood "in position" in our living room, and said, "Daddy do it dis way!" while pretending to go pee-pee. We laughed. I know we shouldn't have, but sometimes the funny bone overrules the smart-parenting bone . . . or whatever.

So, back to Flora's penis. She often talks about her penis despite the fact that I consistently tell her that she does NOT have a penis. (By the way, you definitely know that your daughter is faking symptoms when she tells you that her penis hurts.)
Recently, she's starting asking what IS under her diaper, since I'm always so adamant that it is not a penis. For some reason, breaking out the V word with a 2-year-old is awkward. I felt weird about it, but thought it would be weirder to use different standards for naming boy-parts and girl-parts, so I just went for it. Flora tried out the word and decided she liked it, but unfortunately still prefers to think she has a penis.

It's probably just wishful thinking. After all, Scout always has something to play with in the bathtub! ---that was probably too much information!

In fact, I'm fairly certain that this whole post is too much information, but that's what happens when you become a mom. All sense of decorum is left in the delivery room and you start discussing things with strangers that you never would have mentioned pre-kids. Actually, I think this begins during pregnancy when things like dilation and one's uterus suddenly seem to be acceptable topics for polite conversation. If someone who is not a mom asks you how you are doing, you should probably just stick to generic, safe responses like "okay" or "a little tired" or "pretty good." That's really all they want to hear. However, if it's a mom asking the question then go ahead and spill all the juicy details because chances are good that she did the same thing when she was pregnant.