We tell it like it is

I've struggled for a few days with whether or not to post this story. I was afraid I would embarrass my kids if they ever read this, but Allen and I told it enough in the last few days that I decided to get it written so we can look back, remember, and laugh. Just know that in our home, we call it like it is. We don't use silly names for body parts just because they are young children.

At bedtime each night, the toddlers are stripped and sent to sit on the potties before getting into pajamas. It looks something like this. Last Wednesday, this is what happened as the three were sitting. . .

Ben started fiddling with his penis, as boys tend to do, then looked up and told me "Benis!" I smiled, pronounced it correctly, and said "You're right!"

Maddie looked over at Ben, pointed, and said, "Menis!" I corrected her pronunciation and said, "You're right!"

She looked over at Jon's, pointed, and said, "Penis!" "That's right, Maddie."

A few seconds later, she started looking down at herself, but didn't see one.

Allen started getting Jon into PJs as Maddie stood up and leaned over looking for a penis on herself.

She leaned more, . . . then more, . . . then more . . . still looking.

Right about then, Will stood in the door, and very proudly shared his vast knowledge, "Maddie, you don't have a penis. You have a amus."

I stifled the giggles and hid my smile as the conversation continued.

I told Will that it was pronounced "anus - with an N," just as Allen explained that everyone has an anus.

Will continued, "But if everyone has an anus, and only boys have a penis, what do girls have?"

Allen and I answered simultaneously, "A vagina."

Will, shaking his head in disbelief, "Vagina? . . . . that sounds Mexicany."

That punchline happened at the exact moment I was catching Maddie from doing a somersault across the bathroom as she was still trying to find a penis. I had to shut the bathroom door so the kids would not notice that I was laughing so hard I was crying.