Mom, where did I come from?

My sister had a baby last weekend! I am sooo excited for her and her boyfriend. She had a baby girl who weighed 7 lb 13oz and was 20 inches long. She is perfect....no conehead, perfect skin and the sweetest newborn cry (although my husband begs to differ on that one:). The day she was born, we picked our kids up from school, ran to Borders to buy On the Day You Were Born and then went to the hospital so our kids could meet their new baby cousin.

We have told our kids some basics of where babies come from...mommies and daddies make babies...a small part of mommy and a small part of daddy mix together to make a baby. Up until now, they've been satisfied with these answers. With the birth of a new cousin, though, the questions started rolling in.

I bought Where Did I Come From? a while ago in anticipation of this day. So, I got it out the other night and we read it at our regular story time. Before we started reading, my kids told me they were very excited to read this book because they've been wondering how it all works. As we read the book, I answered questions and when we got to the down and dirty, they both said "Ewwww" as if on cue :) But, we talked about it, I answered their questions the best I could and by the end of the book they were more interested in the umbilical cord than anything else. In fact, we had to take out one of my nursing books and find a picture of an umbilical cord.

I assumed there would be many more questions the next morning, but so far they haven't brought it up. We talked about the fact that other kids at school might not know all of this...it was very similar to our talk about not telling other kids that Santa isn't real :)

I do my best to be open and honest with my kids. Personally, I learned about sex on the playground in fourth grade. My best friend whispered the details to me and I was too afraid to ask my mom if it was true. I don't think my mom ever even tried to talk to me about sex...not really a surprise since I grew up in a very religious family. But, I want my kids to know that I will always be truthful with them about everything.

So, if any of you anticipate "the talk" in the future, I highly recommend this book. It is organized well and has funny explanations and pictures to help ease the anxiety many parents might feel. My favorite part was the description of an orgasm:
"Again, it's not easy to tell you what this feels like. But you know how it is when you have a tickle in your nose for a long time, and then you have a really big sneeze? It's a little like that."