Harper V. Loves Emmy R.

I found these papers when I emptied Harper's backpack yesterday afternoon:

I asked Harper if he had a girlfriend and he (very matter-of-factly) informed me that he did. I was a little surprised and when I asked him how he knew Emmy R. was his girlfriend he said it was because she had told him so. 

So, just like that, he's a boyfriend with a girlfriend. At 6 years old. 

Later that evening while I was helping him with his bath I did a little more questioning. I asked him what it meant to have a girlfriend and he said he had no idea. I asked him how he became a boyfriend or how she became his girlfriend and he said "It's a long story." Seriously. He said that. I had to laugh a little but the stinker never did tell me"the long story" behind it all. He said she just told him that she was his girlfriend and that made him her boyfriend. The end. It's just that easy when you're in first grade.

I told him he didn't have to have a girlfriend even if she said so and he said it was ok, he'd probably just marry her one day.  I told him he was a little young to make such a huge commitment and he asked me how old he had to be to decide for sure. Somehow that conversation went further into not having to ever get married and how some boys marry boys while some girls marry other girls and on and on. He said "so I could marry (so and so, boy) and I said sure, if he really loved him. He then wondered who would be the "mom" if two boys were married? And, how would he get to have kids if there wasn't a girl mom? And how did he get out of my stomach anyways? AND, better still, how did he get in there in the first place?! And, why do I get rid of his old toys when I could just keep them for the kids he'll have one day!!??

I was exhausted by this point and tucked him into bed with some half truths about how doctors help the mom get the baby out of her tummy and a little lesson on C-sections to get him off my back. And, I made sure he understood that all kids didn't have to have a "mom", just some parents to love and care for them. He accepted everything I told him and never thought any of it was strange...I love that about him and kids in general.