Important Conversation #1: Mamma Juices

Oh my goodness, I suppose everyone is surprised when this comes up for the first time with their little girl. I don't know, but it seemed to be SO soon with Leia. Anyway, it was partially my fault. I was right in the middle of my period and needed an appropriate "change," so I threw the necessaries away and was about to go downstairs to change when Leia Rose called me in to snuggle. Needless to say that I was VERY fidgety when I went in there. I knew things would slow down when I lay down with Leia, so I did that, but she had already noticed. She asked, . . . and I decided to answer as simply as I could: "Well, Mammas have these special juices that come out, and I really need to take care of it right now." Hmmm, of course that opened the floodgates: "What are these 'special juices,' Mamma? Are they spurting out right now? Do they hurt? What do they look like?" Well, I just lay there and told her the whole thing. "The juices are called a woman's 'period.' Each month, a lady's body get's ready to have a baby, and if no baby begins growing, then the place for the baby to nestle into (do you remember the sack that came out after Annie was born?) has to go somewhere, so it comes out of the vagina (the place where Annie came out) and it looks like blood. And this is something very private for a Mamma and her daughter to talk about. It's NOT something to EVER talk about to teachers or friends or classmates, . . . because people could not understand or even get afraid. I remember when I rode the bus to Pine Crest one year as a counselor, there was a little girl who came up to me and wore a really confused face as she told me that those big girls had told her that blood comes out of her Mamma every month and she uses a tampon for it. 'What's a tampon?' I just took the little girl by the shoulders and said, 'Don't you worry, honey. You just go home and ask your Mom about those things. She'll explain it to you.' And SO, it's just not something that you should talk about in class, . . . EVER, even if the teacher mentions it. You just listen, . . . and don't feel like you have to offer your private information." Lots of serious thought on the part of Leia Rose here. She seemed to understand and truly did keep it private between us. (Thank goodness!!!) It was REALLY important that I make the privacy thing clear to Leia, . . . she just shares SO very much about our family willingly, that I know she wouldn't mind sharing this, too. *sigh* Hence the careful tone of mine. The laughter during the whole conversation? When I told Leia Rose that some people call their period their "friend." Ha!