I'm not READY...

I bet you thought I was going to write I wasn't ready for Christmas, right? Well, that's true I'm not, but that's not what's causing me stress. There's still 5 weeks of shopping time for the big day.
No, I'm NOT ready to answer queries about the birds and the bees, from my 8 year old!
I'd much rather answer questions about, well anything else, but last night, Ceilidh asked me "what's a period?"
I tried to play dumb, even though I had a sinking feeling where this was going.
"A period is the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence," I answered nonchalantly.
"No, I know that. But what else is a period?" she asked again.
Feeling the stress of having to explain puberty and the changes to expect to an 8 year old (my 10 year old has remained completely uninterested in this topic thus far), I tried another answer.
"It's a span of time, like a hockey period, or an era in history."
This did not satisfy Ceilidh.
"Isn't there a kind of period that makes your stomach hurt?" she asked.
"Why are you asking me?" I tried a different tactic, hoping to uncover the reason for the sudden interest, while wondering how old I was when I read the Judy Blume classic, Are you there God? It's me Margaret.
 "The girls at dance class were talking about it, and it's supposed to happen when you're older. I think you should tell Devlin because he's older than me, and he'll need to know what a period is," she stated.
It took me a moment or two to compose myself before I could look at my daughter, and say, quite calmly and emphatically, "Ceilidh, when you are ready, I will explain the third definition of a period, You're not there yet. And you have a few years still, And furthermore, Devlin doesn't need to worry because the third definition of a period? It only affects girls."


I think she was satisfied with that answer, and I've got another 18 months, maybe, before I have to give the lecture on the birds and the bees.