My cat's heinie

 The lines of communication should always be open between you and your children.  If you establish an ongoing dialogue from the very beginning, your children will feel comfortable coming to you with questions as they get older.  It's important not to shy away from talking about difficult topics, even when they are young- you can lay the ground work and tell them how you feel in an age appropriate way.

Which brings me to my cat's heinie...

Our older son has been desperate for a pet for YEARS.  He's allergic.  He researched, and researched finally discovering that he could have a hairless cat...a Sphynx.  (Think Mr. Bigglesworth) 

So his grandfather indulged him for his eighth birthday earlier this month with an eleven month old Sphynx named Summer.  Apparently she was a great deal because she had just had a litter of kittens.

So Summer came with teats.  We took out a book from the library to learn more about cat's.

Page 1- the cat in the book has babies...

My son looks at me and ask, "Mom, where did the babies come out of Summer?"

I asked him where he thought they came out of her.

"Her butt."

Now that's when I realized that even when you have this ongoing dialogue with your kids, sometimes things still fall through the cracks!

I called for my five year old to join our conversation.  I asked him what part of the body do babies come out of?

"The vagina," he said, with a grin.

So therefore, I prompted, what part of Summer's body did her kittens come out of?

"I guess her vagina- do cats have a vagina?"

Aha! 

And so the conversation began.  We talked all about different animals, how they all have babies- and mostly in the same way. 

My older son wanted to see Summer's behind- he had never noticed that she had "more than one hole!"

Clearly, discovering that his cat had a vagina was the highlight of his week- he tells everyone that comes over...

"What's the big mystery?  It's my vagina, not the sphinx!"  Miranda- Sex and the City