Update - S E X and Summer is coming!

Update on S E X-

At dinner with friends last week, Z asked how exactly a woman's egg is fertilized by a man's seed and she kept at it. "I just don't get it!" she said as we grownups all stared bug-eyed at each other before busting out laughing. I think I eventually mumbled something lame about talking about it later.

It seems she is ready to hear about how babies are made. Furthermore, it seems I am not quite up to the task as much as I hoped.

So last weekend, when her sister was otherwise occupied, I pulled out our previously hidden copy of It's Not The Stork! and read it to her, cover to cover. When we got to the extremely brief description of s e x, she exclaimed "Did YOU ever do that?" and I replied with a simple "yes."

When I finished reading, I asked her if she had any questions and I told her the book would be on her shelf for her to look at whenever she wants. She had no questions and hasn't mentioned it since. The information in the book is very basic (it's actually meant for kids ages 4 and up) but she is a pretty sheltered, emotionally immature 7 year old so I thought we'd start with this one before moving on to the next book.

I don't know if she really grasped any information but I guess that doesn't matter so much. What matters is that we've started the dialogue and she has resources she knows she can turn to if she has further questions.

(PHEW.)


-----------------------------

Update on Summer is coming!-

Friends, I am panicking. We have just a small sampling of summer camps scheduled and a whole lot of open ended summer days.

I feel like I need a game plan.

Here's what I've got so far:

1. Every night after dinner, the kids and I will sit down and write out a plan for the following day. That way we aren't just fumbling around in the morning in our pjs until someone gets inspired/stir crazy. We can, of course, have mornings where we stay in our pjs all morning but I'd like it to be a purposeful choice.

2. Z will do her school summer reading challenge and we will schedule in reading time every week day.

3. Z will also write something every day, whether it's the grocery list, a letter, a story, a journal entry, anything.

4. Both girls are going to learn how to do some more chores around the house this summer. They've chosen to learn how to do their laundry from start to finish and how to load and unload the dishwasher.  (I think I will need to reward us ALL with treats after working on these.)

5. We'll have an adventure every week, of my choosing.

6. I'm going to ask the girls to pick a personal goal for the summer and then make a plan to reach that goal.


That's all I got so far.

(HALP.)