Leaves, Birds, and Bees

(This is 1/4 of the pile that was previously here...the leaves were piled so high that they were as tall as Oscar and if he wanted, could hide and it was a lot of digging to find him.)
For the past month the giant leaf piles in our yard have been the greatest toys ever invented. Oscar daily would spend hours out side swimming in the leaves (mingled with super hero play).
(Here are the leaves that are up the hill from our driveway, from our yard...notice the neighbors piles, not the large expanding pile as ours.)
As of Friday we hauled the last of them(except the apple tree that is still dropping) to the curb for pickup tomorrow. Sigh...I'm really going to miss such a fun activity in my own back yard.
(Here is the pile, down the hill from our driveway. The kids still like playing in the leaves, even if they are in the street)

Birds and Bees-(for the uncomfortable people reading you can end now)

Yesterday, while Oscar was helping me with the staining of the kid room chairs, he asked me what the bump was on the back of my shirt.
I said "oh, that is my bra".
He then asked "what is a bra for?".
I responded "remember how girls have breasts?"
"What are breasts mom?"
"They are the bumps on women, you know, what we use to feed babies."
"oh yeah, I remember"
"Yeah, well, bras help to hold up the breasts so that womens backs don't get tired."
"Mom, what is different about girls and boys?"
"Do you know what the difference is between boys and girls?"
"Boys have pieces"
"Do you mean a penis?"
"Yes that what I meant. What is it called that girls have?"
"Do you mean a vagina?"
"Yeah, that is it...is it like a bum?"
"Basically yes...Boys and girls have different bodies for different things. Like, girls can have babies and boys can't."
"Yeah, will poppy be able to have babies?"
"Yes, when she gets bigger and gets married."
This is where Poppy comes in and disrupts conversation and Oscar leaves to play.

Later in the evening when I leave to get the babysitter for our stake conference adult meeting, Oscar decides to stay at the house with dad. (Dad later asked if I "put him up to staying home") While away and Dad is getting ready to leave, changing clothes and such, Oscar asks "Dad what is the difference between boys and girls?" Obviously, I have failed at filling his curiosity. Ricky being the more uncomfortable in these situations, told Oscar we would talk about it later.

This afternoon while Poppy was napping I pulled out my old anatomy coloring book with very basic illustrations of the human body. We looked at muscles, circulatory systems, and boys and girls insides. I showed him how they are different. NOT pictures of nudity per-se but the actual internal organs. Like how women have a uterus that the baby grows in it and a picture of a baby inside a mothers stomach. It was really cool for him to see illustrated the basic beginning of human life. He asked me how small he was when he began to grow. I then showed him a human cell and we looked at the different systems. We didn't actually discuss "how" a baby is made, we shall leave that to a later date.
Although I can't believe that I'm discussing these things with my five year old, I'm not surprised. This is my boy who has always wanted to know what was "real" and how everything works. Truth be told, I'm really relived to be discussing openly these things with him. It makes me feel as though I can fill his need to "know" without him having to discover it incorrectly from someone else. It feels a little empowering to know that I can openly share with him the miracles of life. We discussed how God really must have been really smart to develop so many wonderful humans. He did say that the book didn't contain animals and asked if they were like us humans.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience...next time we'll get Daddy in on the fun!
If any of our wonderful bolggy readers have any better advice on how to address this great but difficult question, feel free to share the information!