Dad, Can I Go to Sex Ed?

The other day Tom brought a permission slip home from school. He has reached the ripe old age of the school puberty talk and needed our signature to attend. For some reason, Tom always wants me to sign things like this while Dylan is crying, Logan is asking me to help him spell something and Ethan is reading me his after school book. I told him I would look at it right after dinner and make sure everything was taken care of for school the next day. Apparently, he didn't think I would get it done.

As he was getting things out of the fridge for dinner while Gary was stirring what ever we were having in the pot on the stove, Tom asked completely nonchalantly, "Dad, can I go to sex ed?"

There are times in life that you REALLY, REALLY wish you had a camera. This was one of them. Gary's face was priceless. A mix between shock, confusion, and a bit of, "If I ignore this, will it just go away?" mixed in for good measure. I reassured him that he did indeed hear Tom correctly.

Needless to say, we signed the paper.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the big maturation discussion has arrived. Tom came home from school busting at the seams with all his new found information. Being a girl and never attending a boy class on the subject, I was a bit taken aback by the amount of information. Tom wanted to debrief. I wanted Gary to be there. We agreed that when Gary got home from work, the three of us would sit down and talk all about it.

Tom was very excited to show us all the fun things in his kit. Mostly facial cleanser and deodorant because boys break out and stink. This was one of the main topics I gathered. He also learned quite a bit about his anatomy. From growing taller and getting muscles to what may happen while he's sleeping (I think you know what I'm saying here), it was all covered.

I think I made it through most of the conversation without blushing and giggling like a little girl. I'm still wondering where my baby went. How can it be possible that he is learning about puberty when it seemed like yesterday we were worrying about teething and potty training.