Of birds and bras

I'm not even sure how to begin typing this post, but well, here goes.

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I never did think about the day when I have to teach my girl the innate physical differences between boys and girls.

The meatstick and the fur pie. The train and the tunnel of love. The pee-pee. The gi-gi. The twin mountains.

For all I can remember, I still occasionally bathed with my mum as a pre-adolescent and when it came to sex talk,  it was the school teachers and textbooks that took up the responsibility, not mum. So, no one actually taught me how to teach kids about this issue but I assume it is a mother's instinct and somehow, we will just get it when the time comes.

Well, I just didn't know that it would come so early.

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Angel and I would bathe together when jw is out sailing. The only way I can bathe without her shrieking, wailing or tugging at my shower curtains is - with her. I kind of enjoy it anyway, it's a mother-daughter naked bonding session each time.

Now that she is an inquisitive 2-year-old,

Me: Ok darling, let's get ready to pom pom!

Angel: Mummy mummy, what's that? *points to my blackforest*

Me: Erm, that's a xu-xu (typical slang for gi-gi in my culture). Only girls have it. Boys don't, you know.

Angel: Mummy have, Angel have!

Me: Yes dear, because we are both girls. Does Daddy have?

Angel: No, Daddy got cuckoo-bird!

Fine, so there has been some daddy-daughter sex ed talk going on behind my back.

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With all the hype about the cuckoo-bird, Angel has been more than curious and sometimes she even follows jw to the toilet.

Angel: What's this what's this?

Hubby: Daddy wants to pee.

Angel: I know, cuckoo-bird!

Hubby: Yes dear, Daddy wants to pee.

Angel: Cuckoo-bird, cuckoo-bird!

Hubby: Correct, but can you don't see? Daddy really wants to pee.

Angel: No no, I can see. But I don't touch.

I heard the whole conversation, it made me giggled and at the same time wondered - What was I thinking about when I was two? Probably not birds.

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One night, we had another mother-daughter bath session. With rubber duck, whale, dolphin, turtle, octopus and starfish in a sea of bubbles. It was fun and when we were done, it was time to get dressed.

Angel: Mummy, what are you wearing?

Me: *decides to give the most obvious and plain answer* It's a bra, dear. B-R-A. Say bra. Girls will wear it because we have neh-neh-pok (slang for boobs), boys don't wear.

Angel: *Points to her nipples* Angel also has neh-neh-pok! One, two!

Me: That's right, dear. But you don't have to wear a bra now because you are still small, ok?

Angel: Ok. But when I grow up, I want to wear one.

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The thought of my girl wearing a bra (besides being extraordinarily bizarre) takes me out of the delusion that she'll always be my baby girl, my little one who kisses me every morning, who takes my hand when we stroll along the streets, who hugs me to bed every single night. One day, my little girl is gonna be a big lady. To confess, it makes my heart sink a little.

Kids - they grow up all too fast.

So I'm definitely cherishing each moment with my bra-less little Angel.

Honestly, how and when do you guys start to teach your children all these things?