Seeds (Sex Ed part 2)

So I'm sitting reading to the kids over lunch the other day, and all of a sudden Sweet Pea interrupts me with "Hey, dad, there's a cardinal." We have three bird feeders outside our kitchen window (one for finches, one for hummningbirds, and one for the rest) so this didn't surprise me. Sweet Pea then added "And there's a female, too." (both kids can readily distinguish the males from their drabber partners).

So after acknowledging the birds presence I attempt to return to reading when Sweet Pea almost shouts "Dad, look, their mating!"

"I don't think so," I automatically say, as I glance briefly to see what the fuss is about. I spot the two birds in question feeding on seed that has fallen to the ground.

"No dad, look, the male is putting the seeds into the female. They're really mating. Now they're going to have baby birds in the nest!"

I looked again, simultaneously wondering what it was that she saw, as well as marvelling that she knew the term 'mating'. Indeed, for whatever reason, the male was picking up seeds off the ground and dropping some of them into the female's mouth. I had to stop myself from laughing.

"See, dad?"

"Um, I don't think that's exactly how they mate" I mumble.

"No, it is! He's putting the seeds in!" (her tone of voice is somewhere between having an 'Ah, Ha!' moment of understanding and exasperation for having to point out the obvious).

"Hey, how about we finish this story?" I say, and she (thankfully) lets me.

It looks as if Daisy's daughter (in the comments section of this post) had it totally spot on, when she said that Sweet Pea would next ask me what kind of seeds make babies. I'm thinking next time this comes up I'm just going to send Sweet Pea up to Wisconsin, so she can get the straight dope from Daisy and her daughter.

Joe