Curiousity and 5 year old

Jason has always been interested in how things work. A little while ago, we were stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank. He looked puzzled and asked, "Mommy, why does Daddy have to keep putting gas in the car?" I explained that as we drive the car, the gas is used up. He then began asking me lots of questions like where does the gas go? How is it burned up? How does it convert from a liquid to gas? Why can't we see it coming out the tailpipe? He literally questioned me until I didn't know the answers anymore. When Alan got in the car, he had to give me a hand.

After that, we had to spend another 15 minutes explaining the airbags. We're thinking the kid would make a great mechanical engineer.

A few days later, we were driving past a road construction site. Danny was asking what all of the cranes and frontloaders were. (And no, I didn't know what all of them were called.) At the end of the construction, there was a porta potty. When Jason heard what I called it, he was very curious. After I explained what it was and what happened to the contents, he got very excited. "I want one for the living room. When I watch TV, I don't have to miss anything when I have to go potty!"

Superheroes

Jason's favorite game to play is superheroes. We like to talk about our most desired superpowers. Last night, we were at an indoor playground and Jason told me he was now "Drowner Rounder" - a superhero who had the superpower to breathe underwater. He's always coming up with really great new superheroes. He asked me what superpower I had that day. Since I was tired and wanted to stay sitting down, I said that I was invisible. Danny, also tired, was sitting next to me. He asked what we were talking about. I said that we were playing superheroes. He's not quite sure what the deal is yet, but he sure does love running around with his hands in the air behind Jason. I then asked him what his superpower was. He looked puzzled, so I asked, "What can you do?" He obviously understood when he smiled big. "I can poop! Superpoop!" I have 2 boys - superheroes and poop are just normal dinner table conversation around here!

Intussusception

Danny started having stomach cramps last Wednesday night. He's recently potty trained, so we assumed it was constipation. On Saturday, after a few consultations with his doctor on the phone (I love America!), he "went". We thought all was fine until the cramping started again and continued to get worse. By 7 am the next morning, neither of us had gotten much sleep. I took him to the ER while Alan stayed home with Jason. Our local ER referred us to the regional children's hospital where we were transported by ambulance. Alan and my parents had made it to the hospital right as the ambulance arrived to pick us up. A very concerned Jason was able to see Danny before we put him in the ambulance.

Shortly after we arrived at Children's Medical Center, they suspected he had intussusception. The intestine folds in on itself kind of like a telescope. He was immediately taken in for a sonogram. (During the sonogram, Danny decided that he had had just enough of the hospital. He pulled the towels off his shirt, turned to me and emphatically said, "I want to go home.") The sonogram confirmed the diagnosis and they took us straight to the fluoroscopy room where he had an air enema. Oh, yes. Crazy! I had never heard of any of this before Sunday. But I have to say, Danny's pain stopped immediately. He was exhausted from not sleeping well for 4 days, but started getting better rapidly. On Monday, they let us leave the hospital after he had started eating again. By Monday afternoon, he was running around my parent's house pushing a cart while we were picking Jason up.

What we've learned: they have no idea what causes it. The majority of people to get it are 18 months to 3 years of age. It ususally goes away and never comes back. Nurses and doctors love to wake you up at 5:10 am to "see how it's going."