The birds and the bees and the role of a man.

There have been some pretty heavy conversations going on at our house. I'll start with Annie first. Yesterday morning I was doing her hair and out of the blue she asked, "Mom, why do you have to be married to have kids?" Alright- think this through- does she really need details or can a vague answer satisfy this growing curiousity. Her being only 6, I decide on the latter and respond, "Because you need both a man and a woman to have a baby." To which she responds, "Ohhhh, I see!" At this point I panic a tiny bit because I think some great connection has been made in her brain from the information I gave her and she now really knows how babies are made. I don't know where she may have gotten any additional information- I mean we don't even have cable- but she has surprised me in the past with what she knows already. But then she follows that up with, "Because you need a man to make the boys happy and a woman to make the girls happy." Relief! Just the kind of innocent, sweet and a little bit complimentary to me response you would expect from a 6 year old.
Now on to Finn. I wasn't even here for this conversation, but Annie reported it to me. A few nights ago Eric's younger brother, Steve, was watching our kids for us and Suzie had a poopy diaper. Steve is really cute with the kids, but a poopy diaper was a bit outside his brotherly obligation. So he asked Finn to change it. Keep in mind Finn changes Suzie's diaper for me all the time and he sees his father do it too. Notwithstanding all that, he answers, "I don't change diapers. I'm a man." Just when you thought gender stereotypes were a thing of the past....