Self Esteem Deflator and TSS

Harper has now reached the age where curiosity meets understanding.  This has translated into my desire to be a little more modest with my getting dressed in front of him -not necessarily because I think it is wrong for him to see the opposite sex's bare body, but he will often stare longer than I am comfortable and ask questions that make me feel downright self conscious.  Several weeks ago he happened to walk in on me in the bathroom after a tinkle and I was trying to put myself back together quickly before his barrage of questions could start.  But, I obviously wasn't quick enough.  As he saw my stomach, he points his tiny finger and says "Mommy what wrong wif you tummy?" 

Knowing he was pointing at the lines that my pants had left all around my mid-section from a long day of wearing them, I tried to blow him off with a simple - "Oh nothing Harper".  But, he was too quick and responded with "Are you pants too tight?"  

All I could say was "yes buddy they are" - even though I really wanted to go into a long soliloquy that their tightness was brought on because of my pregnancies with 2 little boys that obviously don't understand the long term effect of my altruistic sacrifice.  Something also told me that he wouldn't comprehend that I was actually below my pre-pregnancy weight but the shape of my body was lost somewhere between the birth of he and his little brother.  Wow - it is amazing how a 2 1/2 year old can really make you want to lock the door and change your clothes in the complete dark.

In addition to my need to be personally modest, I am also having to protect personal items that seem to be intriguing to little boys but hard to explain at this age.  Over the last couple of months he has become intrigued with certain products that are necessary for women on a monthly basis.  We tend to find tampons and their wrappers throughout the house where he has launched them out of their applicators like rockets.  On one particular day Harper had sadly launched one out of its applicator right into his mouth (CLEAN OF COURSE).  From another room, I hear a VERY paniced Matt with the following exclamation: "OH MY GOD HARPER GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH - IT IS FULL OF TOXINS".  Although I agree it should be nowhere near his mouth, I could not help but laugh and ask Matt where in the world he had come up with that notion.  He looked at me and said "I thought they contained toxins."  I said "Matt, it is only a compressed piece of cotton - I think you might be referring to Toxic Shock Syndrome - which is something you get when you leave them inside of you for 100 years and get a serious infection that sometimes causes death."  He simply responded with "Oh".

I wonder if I messed up his whole thinking of what tampons actually do for women? - maybe he thought the "toxins" actually stop your menstrual flow rather than the power of mother nature. All along he probably thought this was a medically necessary device rather than a means to control the flow.  Boys....they have so much to learn and I now have 3 of them to teach!