when it's time to change...

Remember this: Fourth grade, girls go into one room, boys into the other? Oh yes...THAT day. A movie is watched regarding the oh so uncomfortable (to go through and to listen to) subject of puberty and how it relates to your particular sex. Then you're sent home in either fascination of the wonders of the human body or in horror of the terrible, gross things that are going to start happening to you.

I remember this pretty well. All the girls got to go into the gym and watch a film (remember those - films...on a projector?) about menstruation...by Disney. You know - the authority on women's health. (You can watch it here for a nice chuckle.) We sat on the gym floor, watched the movie, chuckled a bit from time to time, pointed out who we thought had already started their periods, and that was about it. Not a whole lot of information, but we knew that some strange shit was going to be happening to us pretty soon. As for the boys, I think they just sat in the classroom and played games. What did they need to know, anyway?

That day was yesterday for our son's class. I'm not really sure if I have gathered everything they went through as I've only gotten bits and pieces of description from him such as, "what happens when your weenie goes up and gets excited" and "babies happen when the stuff from the penis meets an egg." Apparently they watched a video followed by a question and answer session where he asked those important questions like, "Why are there babies with two heads sometimes?" And then they promptly sent them home to bombard their parents with more questions such as, "Does humping help that stuff get to the egg?" and "When you have sex, does it feel right?" Apparently they were given much more information then we were at that age.

Ah, and so it begins. Now I feel like I have to start watching for changes in him...do I see a little hair on his upper lip? Is his voice starting to crack? Oh dear, I don't think I'm ready for this yet. Do I start setting time limits on how much time he can spend in the bathroom, keeping all of my old magazines out of there so he doesn't have anything "interesting" to look at?

I'm thankful that he feels comfortable enough to ask the hubby and I any questions that he has and let us know about things, but I don't think I'm ready for him to come out of his bedroom some morning and say, "Guess what! I had my first nocturnal emission!"