# 2 year old very absorbed in his penis-- how to handle?



## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

The last three days were DS's first official days out of diapers. It's actually going fairly well, even though I did post a little rant about the first day...







The thing is, though, that now that he's not in diapers, he's become very very absorbed in playing with his penis, and I'm not sure how to handle it.

Now, I'm not uptight about nudity, and I am not normally bothered by babies/toddlers/little kids exploring their bodies. DD1 is 5 now, and lately I've been gently encouraging her to keep her explorations private, but when they're really small, I usually just pay it no attention. I figure it's normal, it's their business, and drawing attention to it gives it more importance than really needs to be given to it.

But today it seemed very weird to me-- he spent literally hours sitting on the couch in his little jockey shorts, taking his "pee pee" in and out of the fly, staring at it, playing with it, fiddling with it. To the exclusion of all other activities, for a large part of the day. He had this dreamy, lost expression on his face. And I admit I got a little funny about it. A few times I tried to distract him, or convince him to put some sweat pants on, and he just told me, "I don't want to, mama. Don't want to. I doing THIS."

DH was upset by it, especially since more than a few times, DS seemed to want to be held and cuddled WHILE playing with himself-- he'd snuggle up next to me or DH, and then start doing it, with that look on his face, and I guess DH got to feeling weird about it, like it was a sexual thing, which of course it isn't, but it's weird.

So I'm just kinda wondering how to handle it. Do I get persistent about distraction? Do I leave him alone?

He's definitely spent plenty of time with his bits, before today. But always before, he had a diaper on most of the day, so it wasn't an all-day issue.


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## LVale (May 4, 2004)

Let me assure you, this is perfectly normal. He has total free reign to his penis now. Believe me, I know all about this. I have 2 adult sons, and 2 grandsons. When all of them were out of diapers, and found the penis, each one of them thought it was the greatest new toy to play with. They all had that dreamy look on their faces. Each one in turn would spend hours with their new toy, and within time, the thrill faded, and their attention to other things. That is until the go through puberty and it starts all over again. But this is a phase and this too shall pass. So no worries, and just don't draw attention to it, just wait until he starts putting things under his foreskin, like a cheerio and proudly show you his new skill!


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

Another vote for normal, carry on as usual. I think 2 is old enough to be told that is something you do in private - perhaps missing out on the 'fun' everyone else is having would be a reason to give it a rest sometimes.


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## Tizzy (Mar 16, 2007)

The novelty will wear off soon enough!
But I did start encouraging DS1 when he was around 24 months that he needed privacy. So when he'd start to play with himself I'd casually ask if he needed some privacy. Sometimes he would leave the room, but the majority of the time he'd say "nope!" and carry on playing with other things.


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## shanniesue2 (Jul 4, 2007)

he only just now has constant access to it... so I see it the way I do when they get a new toy... they play with it a lot at first, then the interest dies down a little. I would just ignore it. I think the bigger deal you make out of it, the bigger deal it's going to be.

P.S. I do think I would discourage it in public places.


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