…Ruby is enthralled with hers. I can’t say that I blame her. It is a fascinating, magical world down there and how is she supposed to know this if she doesn’t go exploring? Since she graduated to big girl underpants, she’s had easier access and lately, I’ve spotted her standing with her feet in second position, her legs slightly bent and even bowed a little, and one or both of her hands deep into the front of her pants.
The User’s Manual encourages me to ignore the behavior and since I do not want to give her any archaic ideas that might lead to poor body image later on (i.e. your body is dirty!), I pretty much let her do what she needs to do when she needs to do it. If we’re in public, we usually have the discussion about behavior appropriate for such settings but so far, it doesn’t seem this information is getting in.
The other day, I heard Sam having a conversation with her in the kitchen. “Yes, honey,” he said. “That’s what a vagina smells like. It has a very special scent.” They were out of my line of vision so I could only deduce what had transpired from Sam’s side of the chat—and from my own recent experience of her digging in her pants and then pressing her hand over my mouth and nose. Yep. She’s a girl, alright. And if he didn’t know it before, Sam now knows this, too. I thought he handled the situation very, very well and I filed his calm example away so that I could call on it at a future date.
Like the next day, for instance, when I was strolling a few paces ahead of Ruby at the zoo and turned to see her awkwardly limping along behind me, her pace considerably slowed because it was the only way she could maintain her forward trajectory and still manage to get all of the fingers on her left hand deep into her universe. Before I had a chance to say anything useful, she stopped abruptly and pulled her own inpersonation of Mary Katherine Gallagher.
After 3 or 4 seconds of one very deep—and apparently quite satisfying—inhalation, she dropped her hand to her side, plugged her pie hole with her right thumb and continued walking with her normal, determined gait. She seemed to have aptly confirmed for herself that her vagina still has the special scent her wise daddy told her about and confirmed for me, as I writhed on the ground with hyena-esque laughter, that I have zero composure.
12 responses so far ↓
1 sara // Mar 4, 2008 at 11:35 am
umm..yea, kandy went through this. still does actually. both of my girls are not really shy about “exploring their universe”. however, i don’t think either of them really “explored” the scent…to my knowledge anyway.
2 stacy // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:04 pm
yeah, round here, that’s been a boy thing. neither of my girls have done much genital exploration in my presence, but Boyish, he gets busy, on the daily.
3 stupidmommy // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:28 pm
There was a little girl at the preschool where I worked who liked to dig in her butthole and then sniff her fingers.
My boys were in extreme penis mode about six months ago, but the obsession seems to have passed. Lilah sometimes bends way over to get a view but hasn’t yet discovered she can let her fingers do the walking.
4 veronique // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:57 pm
the book link didn’t like me what book is it…pregnant ladies want to know
5 claire // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:35 pm
oh sweet jebus i think you just put me off having children for another 5 years ..
bahahaha
6 melanie // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:52 pm
LOL! OMG! You make me laugh so hard. I don’t think my daughter ever did the “smell” thing either. It’s hilarious!
My ten year old son has been taking hour long showers for the last month or so and when I ask him what he’s doing in there so long he looks all kinds of guilty and tells me he’s just “taking a shower mom!!!”. When I mentioned it to my husband he said boys usually start masturbating around this age. After I picked myself up off the floor I was okay, but….TEN??? Good grief! *sigh* So I will leave him alone when he is taking his showers. But TEN??? He’s still my baby!! lol!
7 aaryn b. // Mar 4, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Whew! Good to know that I’m not the only one going through some variation of what everyone here is experiencing. You never know, you know? Maybe I write this and then all of you tell me how sick and disturbed my child is.
Veronique, the User’s Manual as we call it in our house is nothing more than the very widely used, “What To Expect, The Toddler Years.” And while it certainly has useful information, we find that we simply don’t know the ways of the toddler. And…congratulations, pregnant lady!
8 Karol // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Thanks for a gut-splitter!
My 2 year old has been very interested in self-exploration lately, and seems to have named one of her parts Clifford Clitoris (you know, after Clifford the Big Red Dog).
9 Leslie // Mar 5, 2008 at 8:54 am
I am pregnant and at first was mortified at this (because I went to a very “archaic” private school and had parents that were not so sure when to tell me about sex so they never did–so I didn’t know what masturbation was until I was 18.) but then remembering everything else you write, realized this is going to be hilarious and I’ll probably be the other mother rolling with laughter on the zoo sidewalks. I am so glad you share these things because how else are we going to know what is normal? You should write a book; it would be hilarious and educational.
10 Elaine // Mar 5, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I have two little girls and OMG, the wonder and joy they have found in there. Of course, so have I in my own bit of the universe, so who am I to say no. Good times.
11 Beth // Mar 5, 2008 at 7:31 pm
My son really discovered his penis around the same age, so I told him it was totally cool and groovy that he get acquainted with it, and taught him about “having private time.” It was pretty funny when my then-three/four-year-old would tell me he was going to have some private time, then close himself off in the bedroom for a while and eventually emerge to go wash his hands. I thought I would die laughing, but seriously, I was glad he was so okay with it. A friend said her young daughter went through a phase in which she, well, would grind against the shopping cart seat bar. Ah, discovery. ;^)
12 kerryanne // Mar 12, 2008 at 7:35 am
Oh god. What I have to look forward to…
I haven’t laughed so hard reading something in ages! Ruby may be mortified if she ever comes across this and read it at say, age 15 or so. lol
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