Monday, February 05, 2007

Naming Names

Like most children her age, Ada is really into body parts. We spend a chunk of each day identifying a knee, toe, mouth... and vagina. The past couple of months, Ada has been very interested in hers. When she asked what it was, I told her. No point in pretending I didn't hear her or calling it something cutesy. The euphemisms people use for vagina just seem gross to me. Plus, I want her to be comfortable, to know it is another body part like her nose or belly button. Sure, it is more private, but I don't want to start her thinking it is dirty or bad to know herself.

Since she identified her "'gina" (as she calls it), we've talked about who else might have one. She's asked if I have one (yes) and if Papa has one (no). She's seen us naked, so it doesn't seem like such a leap to want to know what's we've got down there. One night after her bath she squeaked "'gina!"

"Yup, that's your vagina."

"Mama?"

"Yes, Mama has a vagina."

"Nooo!" she laughed.

Then she asked: "Monkey Boy?"

"No, Monkey Boy doesn't have a vagina."

"Monkey Boy!"

So ok, maybe we've got a ways to go on this one.

** ** **

And in a wildly inappropriate segue, Ellen and I have been singing along to this ever since a friend sent our way.

Mild warning: not really work safe, especially if you've got your speakers on.


In fact, we have been so enamored of it that we spent an entire playing cards and coming up with rhyming My Puss/Your Puss lyrics. Fantastic, they were earth shattering.

After you watch the video, I am sure that you'll have a hard time resisting the urge to make up your own lyrics (Mike, I am looking at you), please post your favorite new lyrics in the comments.

10 comments:

  1. AHAHAHA that VIDEO. priceless.

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  2. Ha! My daughter went through this exact same phase. She loved the word vagina, and I insisted on its use, as my mother-in-law had the audacity to call it her "cookie." She got so into her vagina that at one point she announced: "I'm building a cupcake tower to my vagina." A lot of great things in a single sentence!

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  3. Jeanne - that may be one of the most wonderful sentences in the English language!

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  4. Hmm ... I'm debating listening to that song with a certain pair of impressionable little ears around. Hey, it's almost naptime ...

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  5. Holey crap that video is fantastic. Thank god for ear phones at work. I think my office mate might be wondering why I am snorting about now though.
    Thanks for that.

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  6. They say "My peach, my clam, my cookie", but do they sometimes say "my Quiche, my clam, my cookie"??? Anyway.
    Here's an alternate lyric:
    My puss still fresh in the morning,
    Your puss needs a governmental warning
    (or: Your puss causes global warming)

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  7. My puss is hot and swanky
    Your puss is Mr. Hanky..

    -- and our girl is proud of her 'gina too. I am proud of her for declaring 'I doan wanna penis' in that contemplative period after her brother (and his penis) was born.

    (I am always curious what sort of cards are you guys playing)

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  8. Ha! That's funny you found that. The other "main" girl, besides Margaret Cho is in our comedy film group "Monkey with a Shotgun". I'm not sure if you've had a chance to check out my BlondeStar video on YouTube yet. But she helped out with that.

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  9. I dunno.. why do mamas still label little girl parts as their vagina when what the little girl is actually talking about is her labia (or more generally, her vulva) -- mamas don't tell their little boys that their testes are their penis, so why can't mamas of little girls seem to embrace the rest of their genitalia other than just their vaginas? Up with vulva, mamas!!

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  10. Anonymous - We may not be totally accurate for a while, though the girl wasn't talking labia when this came up. Chris and I figure we'll deal with detail when she wants more. For now I'm just happy she isn't walking around talking about her clam.

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