Marketing

So much about parenting young children has to do with marketing.  This morning our little foursome went to the pool and NB had his first experience with the automatic flush.  Unfortunately all four of us were in a single fully tiled bathroom/'cabana' and he was right by the sound.  LO hates the auto flush so much that I generally travel with post-it notes to stick over them so I can delay the sound until he's left the stall.  Otherwise I generally have to wrestle him into the stall.  I had forgotten about the cabana sounds and how loud they are until NB was near the commode and LO said "that's an automatic one NB."  Oops!  LO actually handled it quite well, but NB was pretty startled and began to cry when I started clapping and cheering wildly.  We actually managed to get several flushes before we left and I cheered every time.  By the end, NB was cheering too.  Marketing.

NB also decided he wanted to sit down in the pool when the water was too deep for that.  He got a mouth full of water and coughed a bit.  I cheered.  He laughed.  Marketing.

We are having thunderstorms this afternoon.  Yes, in the middle of January it is nearly 70 degrees and storming.  LO is anxious about any kind of rain, but especially thunderstorms, even when there isn't a cloud in the sky. Last evening it started raining and he seemed worried about going to sleep when it was raining.  After I tried all the practical approaches to why he shouldn't be scared, I tried something different.
 "Buddy, just think of the rain as little boys in heaven peeing on the house.  That would be funny wouldn't it?"
"Will it thunder?" he asked.
"I don't know, but if it does, just think of that as bumbahs."
He laughed which at least lightened the mood.  It ended up not storming much until this afternoon, but when the thunder started to rumble, LO looked worried.  I reminded him,"there goes that bumbah!" and he cracked up.  Something about celestial bathroom humor seems to do it for him. Marketing.