Sometimes you need to really think about what you are going to say before you answer a toddlers question. I learned this the hard way very recently.
I was recently changing my sons diaper. I know he is a little old to still be in diapers. I get it. We have tried but he has zero interest in potty training. In fact, this is the one thing that my pretty mellow child fights me on. But I was changing his diaper. Zoey decided it was the perfect time to go crazy. She was upside down on the trampoline in the living room. She had figured out how to do flips over the handle bars. So I was trying to get her to stop doing random tumbling before she broke something or herself.
I was ringmaster to Zoey’s gymnastics show while changing Cannon’s diaper. He began fighting me but calmed down while I was encouraging Zoey to calm down (calling her down and threatening to put her in time out). Cannon says calmly “Mommy, What’s that?” Don’t, I repeat, DON’T just look at the object in question and answer. I did this! I looked and he was grabbing his business. I said “Its your penis baby. Don’t worry, Its yours. It’s not going away.” Cue Zoey’s epic flip and the return of Cannon’s fight against diapers. Chaos ensued. The day progresses and our conversation is forgotten.
Later that night, we go bowling with people from my husband’s shop. Cannon walks right up to all the guys and says “I have a penis” and immediately runs away. Given that most of the guys don’t have children, they did not know how to respond. (I have to laugh because even as parent’s all you can really say is “Ok”). And I should go ahead and note that Cannon has a lisp which is adorable at this age. So yes, my son announced to everyone that he had a penis like it was totally normal conversation. I was embarrassed for a millisecond but then I just laughed. We try very hard not to take life too seriously.
The next night I was rocking Cannon to sleep. Judge me all you want, he is my last baby. And if either of them want me to rock them I do. They won’t always want me to so I soak up all of the adorable loves they give me. This night I was rocking Cannon to sleep. He’s almost asleep when he rouses, grabs my hand, and says “Mommy, where’s my penis?” I try not to laugh when I reply “It’s in your diaper baby.” He says “oh good, I thought I lost it”. Once reassured that he didn’t lose his penis and that it was exactly where it was supposed to be, he went to sleep.