My 20 months old daughter asked me to caress her vagina.

Ok, I'll try to sum up all the information I can. Sorry about how long it got. Forgive me if it's full of useless details.Oh, and yeah, I'm not sure if "caress" is the right word. We're not americans. The sense I intend for the word is "to pass your finger/nails lightly over someone's skin in a way that makes them feel good. Like on the neck, back or other sensitive area". Google translate gave me "fondle" as a similar word so I'm not sure. Someone let me know which is it.A small introduction before I explain what happened:My wife and I encourage our daughter to do many things. If I were to compare, she does things that other kids her age, and sometimes older, won't do. Don't worry, this is not a post about perverted parents.I'm talking about things like running, climbing on and hanging from those park toys type of things, talking (she talks waay more than any of the other babies her age), and other things like these. We believe she has to learn that she will eventually fall and that she has to get back up by herself. Of course, with all the responsibility applied to a baby her age. She never got hurt. We just allow her to experiment with the environment, while being closely watched.What I'm trying to say I guess is that she is more "advanced" than most babies. I don't know if this is the reality os or if this is just a proud parent trying to sell he's raising a super intelligent baby (lol). We also don't pressure her on anything, like to be "better" than the other babies, if that's what you're thinking. She's just very spontaneous and upfront and we allow her to go as far as we think is healthy/isn't bothering others.The reason I mentioned this is because maybe this information is useful to whoever is analysing the case. If it isn't, well, it isn't.Here's what hapenned: every nigh after she eats with her mother, I give her a shower, put her pajamas on her and we lie on the bed and watch "Curious George" until she's out.Early on tonight, after she's all set, we cuddle on the bed watching that monkey play with nails and hammers (!). Sometimes she asks me to sing, to tell her a story, and always caress her. I do it on her arm, on her legs, on her stomach, on her back.So, she's lying by my side, wearing only a diaper and she asks me to caress her. I start with her belly, but to my surprise she holds the diaper down with both hands and tells me to caress there. I tell her I'm gonna do it in her arm, then her neck, but she doesn't listen. I end up doing it on the waist line right under the diaper to try and make her give up the idea while trying to not overreact and make her notice I'm weirded out by it. Anyway, I did it very quickly and went on to other parts of her body. She eventually slept. I then took her to her crib.So, I didn't actually caress her vagina, not even her vulva. But it was close enough and It REALLY caught me off guard. I talked to her mom afterwards, because I really don't know if I did the right thing or what should I do next. She told me I should thell her next time that "dad doesn't caress your vagina." Thinking back, this might have been the best thing to do. I ended up agreeing with my wife.Anyway, I'm not feeling guilty or anything because like I said, I didn't actually caress her vagina per se.I was actually stunned by what she did and am curious about what could she be thinking to ask me that. I guess the questions I wanna ask are:Have you ever dealt with something similar?What could be going through a mind so young to have that asked?Could this be something sexual for her? At this age? Or is she just exercising her freedom to explore, her body, in this case?I guess we can all agree I should tell her "no" the next time, right? Any tips on what to say to her about why dad doesn't do it?Anyway, sorry again for the long post. Mods, I also realize there's a possibility this reading might be offensive or disturbing to some people. I mean no such things. I don't even know what to say to the ones who are disturbed by this. I'm her father and love my daughter. Wouldn't do anything remotely close to perversion to her. I'm just trying to understand what happened.TL;DR: baby girl asked me to caress her private parts while being put to sleep. Dad doesn't know what to do, does it to the area outside the perimeter. Is stunned by her request. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2qvk3bp