Sunday, July 8, 2007

Oedipus stress

I've been wondering for a while now when I should stop letting my toddler son see me naked. And before I googled "when is it inappropriate to be nude in front of your kid" I thought I would put it out there for the fans to write in about. But since really only my mom and my mother in law read this thing (shout out to Rosalee and Shirley!) I may not get much discussion. Until recently I hadn't even really thought about it. We're still training for Potty Bowl 2007 so half the time I'm on the toilet, my son is in there doing the play by play:

Him: You're making a pee pee?
Me: Yes, sweetie.
Him: You use the paper?
Me: Yep
Him: You make the flush?
Me: You betcha
Him: You're washing your hands mommy?
Me: I am!

You get the idea. He's in there when I take a shower, get out of the shower, get dressed, undressed, re-dressed (after baby sister has barfed on me...). I mean, we're not constantly naked in my house but there's a fair amount of the usual disrobing and he's always around and in our business so he sees it all.

Ever since the baby was born and I've been nursing (around the clock) he's taken a keen interest in my boobs. The other day he asked, "Is that your bra?" I started to wonder if maybe he was being over "exposed". Then he asked, "Did you do the clicks?" by which he meant had I fastened the strap since it's a nursing bra. And I thought, this kid pays A LOT of attention to detail. I guess at some point we need to teach him about privacy and private parts and all that so he doesn't start wagging his pee pee up and down the street. But for now it still seems pretty normal. Right?

I guess if he starts asking when I'm due for my next bikini wax it might be time to cover up.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hi, I enjoyed reading your blog, I enjoy and hope you also enjoy.... I need to go to a dictionary to check what tantrum means. By the way it is great to be ...grand...mother. NECHIKOT
Batia

Anonymous said...

I realize that this was probably written a while ago but since I was laughing out loud, I needed to reply. I have an 18 month old son. I am a school psychologist but took off this year to be with him. My understanding is that there is no need to hide your body from your son, and that doing so may in fact cause shame issues for him later on. Keep up the good work!

Susie Lubell said...

Thanks for writing. I can't believe it's been a year since I wrote this. And my son still enjoys whatever time he can get with me in the bathroom. But at least he understands about privacy now. Thanks for the encouragement!