New House Rule

Added to our long list of house rules that revolve around keeping Adam happy is a new rule: No noises should be made that in any way resemble the sound of thunder.

I was wishing for a good hardy thunderstorm. I love them here in the midwest. But now I wish to take back my wish. I guess I didn't learn from the old fables to be careful what you wish for...

We had a decent thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon. Nothing too intense. There were no weather warnings and we never spent any time in the basement. But there were some good, consistent booms every few minutes. I was in the middle of nursing Natasha when Adam first heard it and came screeching across the room and climbed up my leg onto my lap onto poor Natasha's head within .02 seconds. The poor kid was screaming his head off. I have truly never heard him so frightened. I tried to tell him that it was just thunder and everything would be fine, to no avail. He used his vocabulary to try to ease himself "all done!" he kept saying. Then he asked to go night-night. I think he thought that would make it go away. When he discovered he could still hear it in his bedroom, the fear truly set in. "Wake up!" he kept saying.

After that every little boom, bang, or vroom that occurs results in him using his new vocabulary "tunna?!!!!?!!" (thunder) followed by "kiwi" (scary; it took me forever to decipher this one), then "all done!". Unless he's trying to sleep, then it's "wake up!". Well, we live right by a major street. Lots of cars with loud bass drive by. The sounds of which, of course, are followed by the preceeding dialog. As are the sounds of footsteps, Desi barking, doors closing, coughing, chairs getting moved, toilets flushing, and so on...

And this is just the beginning of storm season. Everyone cross your fingers that he becomes desensitized quickly.

By the way, here are the other house rules:

1) If you are the one responsible for waking the children up, you are responsbile for getting them back to sleep. This rule applies to everyone, including children and pets.

2) Don't mention something you can't follow up on. Don't even whisper it because our kid misses nothing. So unless you don't feel like going for a walk at 9 pm, don't say the word.

3) No flushing toilets, closing doors all the way, closing cabinets all the way, or talking loudly during nap time.

4) In fact, try not to breathe too loudly during nap time.

5) Ok, don't move during nap time.

6) Phone ringer off during nap time.

7) Always leave at least one episode of each of the following on TiVo at all times: The Wiggles, Sesame Street, and Barney.

And here are a few imposed for DH's sake:

1) No toilet paper other than Charmin

2) No door slamming. Ever. No matter how mad you are!

3) Always have beer available.

4) Always leave at least one episode of each of the following on TiVo at all times: King of the Hill, In Fisherman, and American Hot Rod.