Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Rear Passenger

My 6-year-old Nicholas is all boy, which is good seeing as how he's a boy and all. His high testosterone level also helps explain his infatuation with the Strongman Competition that ESPN is currently airing approximately 29 hours each day. When you think about it, those contests aren't that different from a typical day in the life of a lot of 6-year-olds. Find heavy stuff, pick it up, move it somewhere else. In fact, those musclemen are really nothing more than a bunch of little boys. Except for the massive quantities of performance-enhancing drugs coursing through their veins. That and their raging hemorrhoids roughly the size of Paris Hilton...only not as disgusting.

Which brings us to an exchange I had with Nicholas on the way home from a friend's house the other night. (I'd record this always-entertaining backseat banter with my kids if I didn't think they'd grow up and successfully sue me for invasion of privacy.)

Nicholas was going on about how awesome these vowelly-challenged, Eastern European beefcakes were that he'd seen on TV that day. Mind you, he couldn't pronounce a single one of their names. Most of them look like something our 3-year-old, Anna Claire, would concoct if she commandeered the keyboard. In fact, I'm going to type in a bunch of characters right now without looking, and I promise it won't be that different than the names of these strongmen participants:

gjkakr#%#@@9959nq's

Sure enough, that very guy finished third on last night's show.

I told Nicholas and Andrew (who's two years older and interested in much weightier matters in life, such as when the next Power Rangers series will begin) that those guys work really hard to get that strong but that there are some negative side effects. I said, "One of the bad things that happens to some of them is really gross, but I'll tell you if you want to know."

Gross is a relative term, especially if the relative in question is your 6-year-old son. So I proceeded to explain the intense pressure that lifting heavy weights puts on one's digestive system - pressure that's roughly equivalent to the new half pound beef and potato burrito at Taco Bell - and how many of those guys will tell you that when they lift that much, it feels as if their plumbing is about to come out their - ahem - their drains. That led to a rather graphic discussion of hemorrhoids, after which Nicholas said very sincerely, "What's the gross part?"

Exactly. After all, what's a little butt barnacle when you're 6? Blood and poop are practically currency at that age.

And some never grow out of it. Which means you might one day see Nicholas competing in one of those Strongmen contests. Of course, he'll need to come up with a different name, preferably one with no vowels. Where's Anna Claire...

7 comments:

Donna G said...

I truly needed this laugh this morning. Thanks!

SG said...

Laughing, laughing, eeeewwwwweeee, but still laughing. Thanks for the laughs! It must be a boy thing. Rhett told my sister that his poop was shaped like a cloud the other day. ~_~ Why look?

Corey said...

I guarantee that if you begin a conversation with a 6 year old boy with "One of the bad things that happens to some of them is really gross, but I'll tell you if you want to know.", THEY ARE GOING TO WANT TO KNOW. Kids love gross. Let me put it this way. My kids now believe that Bologna makes you toot more. So they want us to buy more. How sad is that? Gross is funny when you are 6.

And by the way, "Blood and poop are practically currency at that age"? That is classic. And gross. And funny. And I'm not 6.

Anonymous said...

My girls were totally cracking each other up this morning making fart noises. I was transported back to 5th grade. What happens when we add a son to this mix? Help me.

Ella has taken to flushing. Not her own "stuff" mind you. But things she doesn't prefer. For instance, the cough medicine bottle. Yeah. Nice. Nothing like going fishing with rubber gloves through all sorts of crap to unplug the toilet and find your cough medicine.

Brandon Scott Thomas said...

My girls were totally cracking each other up this morning making fart noises. I was transported back to 5th grade. What happens when we add a son to this mix? Help me.

Ella has taken to flushing. Not her own "stuff" mind you. But things she doesn't prefer. For instance, the cough medicine bottle. Yeah. Nice. Nothing like going fishing with rubber gloves through all sorts of crap to unplug the toilet and find your cough medicine.

Susan - said...

Your blog and the comments have me laughing out loud. I also have two boys, and you are so right. Mine feel compelled lately to announce it whenever they pass gas. I tried to explain that this is REALLY NOT necessary, but they think it is SO FUNNY! "Burping like a cartoon character" is also big right now.

Anonymous said...

this is lela...and thanks for making me laugh until i cried...i guess it's "normal" that i am answering questions all day like, "what's inside a hand grenade that makes it blow up???" gotta love those boys!