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Jan. 25th, 2009 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
In the grocery store today, we had one of those really classic parenting moments.
Alex pointed to a package of Always Maximum Protection Super Giant-Sized sanitary pads Michael had just put on the checkstand and asked, in her clear, piercing three-year-old voice, "What are those?"
"Those are Mama's," Michael said.
So she turned to me. "Mama, what are those?"
"Those are pads for me to use after the baby is born," I told her.
"What are they for, for after the baby is born?" she persisted. I could see ears perking up all along the checkout line.
Fortunately, Really Classic Parenting Moments have ready-made Really Classic Parenting Answers.
"I'll tell you when we're in the car," I said. And all along the checkout line, disappointed heads turned away.
Alex pointed to a package of Always Maximum Protection Super Giant-Sized sanitary pads Michael had just put on the checkstand and asked, in her clear, piercing three-year-old voice, "What are those?"
"Those are Mama's," Michael said.
So she turned to me. "Mama, what are those?"
"Those are pads for me to use after the baby is born," I told her.
"What are they for, for after the baby is born?" she persisted. I could see ears perking up all along the checkout line.
Fortunately, Really Classic Parenting Moments have ready-made Really Classic Parenting Answers.
"I'll tell you when we're in the car," I said. And all along the checkout line, disappointed heads turned away.
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Date: 2009-01-25 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 10:31 pm (UTC)We made models of uteri and placentas with our hands, recently. It was part of explaining menstruation. She liked the part where I opened my cupped hands and the baby fell out, followed by her cupped hands representing the placenta. We chickened out at cutting the cord though and stuck with "when it's time it falls off."
Which is *true*. Somewhere.
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Date: 2009-01-26 04:33 am (UTC)Of course, you're trucking a placenta around with the kid that whole time, trying to keep it clean ... which is icky. So nobody does anymore. But one COULD.
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Date: 2009-01-26 11:38 am (UTC)Also, I couldn't handle telling her that it gets cut with scissors or a knife. She found the c-section quite alarming enough.
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Date: 2009-01-26 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 04:58 pm (UTC)And not just for the hilariously cheerful sperm in top hats on the endpapers.
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Date: 2009-01-26 12:55 pm (UTC)Oh, you'd like to BELIEVE that's true. Google "lotus birth."
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Date: 2009-01-25 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 10:54 pm (UTC)Then she asked, "What if the blood comes from the middle of your uterus?", and I explained that whichever part of my uterus the blood comes from, it will all come out through my vagina.
It was helpful to have the time from checking out to getting in the car, to figure out what I wanted to say. She hasn't noticed anything about menstruation yet, so the only context she has for blood is injury.
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Date: 2009-01-26 01:20 am (UTC)A month later, S was cleaning the daughter's room, and found several pads, paper backing peeled off, stuck to the wall in the closet. When she asked her daughter what they were doing there, the inevitable answer was "well, you're always telling me what a big girl I am now." :)
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Date: 2009-01-26 01:40 am (UTC)The neighbors, a retirement home full of Seventh Day Adventists, called her mother and said 'Um. Err. You should go look at your front door. Um.'
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Date: 2009-01-26 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 03:44 am (UTC)It's probably a really good thing that you don't post these things on tumblr because I'd be a reblogging fiend and my whole blog would be just stories you've posted about Alex.
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Date: 2009-01-26 06:57 am (UTC)You handled it with all the class and grace I'm accustomed to on your blog!
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Date: 2009-01-26 11:41 am (UTC)"What happened?"
"My pants fell down, so I fixed them."
"But isn't that REALLY EMBARRASSING?"
"By the time you've had five children," she said, "it takes more than that to embarrass you."