Girl Meets Boy

Bing search: bath time

My son has a special friend, Lulu, that comes over our house once in a while to play. Lulu and Anthony have been friends 'from the womb', as Lulu's mom and I overlapped in pregnancies, albeit rather briefly; I was just a few weeks pregnant when Lulu was born.

Since birth, they have done absolutely everything together. Played together. Laughed together. Cried together, although that's usually because one hit the other, but that's beside the point.

Up until recently, they even shared bath time together. Given the fact that both of them seemed blissfully unaware of the gender difference between them, it had never been a problem. That is, until recently...

My son and Lulu were taking a bath together the other day, as on any other day, except for one minor detail. Lulu looked down and noticed the obvious that had previously escaped her attention, and as she pointed to it, she very seriously inquired:

"What's that?"

"Well, that's Anthony's pee-pee."

"Where's mine?"

"You don't have one."

"Well, WHY NOT?"

"Because you're a girl and he's a boy, silly, that's why!"

I was amused, but she, clearly, was not. Her eyes opened wide in amazement. Her bottom lip dropped to the floor. This was a revelation! She paused to reflect on what this meant. Then, she turned her attention away from me and directed her focus squarely on Anthony.

"Hey Anthony! Hey, I'm talking to you. Did you know that you are a boy?"

"NO! I ANTHONY!"

Not exactly sure what a boy was and not liking the idea of being accused of something he's not sure about in such a hostile tone, he vehemently denied it.

"NO! You ARE A BOY!!!"

"NOO! I ANTHONY!!!"

A heated argument quickly ensued. Bubbles started flying. At that moment, I don't think Anthony was prepared to handle the truth, and Lulu was not prepared to let it go until he acknowledged it. I quickly separated them and put them down for a nap until I could figure out how best to handle the situation. I called Lulu's mom to let her know about her 'discovery', and on a later occasion, I did explain to Anthony that he, in fact, was a boy. He seemed alright with it once he understood it. Unfortunately, bath time will never be the same again.