Item the first:
Boo and I were watching an episode of "The Little Couple," which happened to deal with IVF. The couple is using a gestational surrogate because the wife cannot safely carry a child. The doctor was explaining (more for us than for the couple - the woman's a doctor, I'm sure she knows how this works) that the egg and sperm would be united outside of the body and then the embryo would be transferred into the surrogate.
Boo and I had the following conversation."How can they physically do that?"
"Well, like they said, they'll take the egg and the sperm. You know how the egg and sperm usually meet up inside the mother's body, right? Well, they'll take them out, and put them together, and make an embryo, then they'll put it inside another woman so she can have the baby."
"But why would they do that?"
"Well, she's so small, she can't carry a baby. So the other woman will do it for them. But it will come from her egg and his sperm so it will be their baby."
"But how can they physically do that?"
"Well, it's funny you should ask, because that's how you came about. That's what Daddy and I did to get pregnant. Except we didn't use a surrogate - they put the embryo back into me."
Pause. Extremely puzzled look. "Why???"
"Because it was the only way we could get pregnant."
Another pause. Furrowed brow.
"But how can they physically DO that?"
Never mind. Some day it won't seem that weird.
Item the second:
About a week later we were watching "America's Next Top Model." Occasionally some network (I couldn't even tell you which one) runs a whole season at a time, and that's the only time I watch it. But I love it so.* Anyway, this was the season that had a transgendered model wannabe, which naturally piqued Boo's interest.
"She's a guy?"
"Well, she's kind of between a guy and girl right now. She's taking hormones and having surgery to change her from a girl to a guy."
"How can they do that?"
"Oh, they cut off her penis, and the hormones she's taking will cause her to grow breasts and look more like a woman."
"Why would a guy want to do that?"
"Sometimes you're born as a boy but inside you feel like you're a girl. So you want to turn yourself into a girl, because that's what your brain says you are."
"But he's a guy!"
"On the outside. But he feels like he's a girl. It's like if we told you one day that we were wrong, and you were actually a boy. You'd still feel like a girl. You'd still like girl things and want to be a girl."
Pause. "Yuck."
Yeah, well, life's not as simple as the Human Growth and Development video makes it out to be. At least we're not talking about wet dreams.
*This is my imitation of Tyra Banks: "Blah blah blah blah crazy shit crazy shit." Good, isn't it?