Puddle

Had to have the "talk" with the boy. No, not the one about the "birds and bees", but the one from Uncle Ben's childhood.

"Stomper, we don't drink out of puddles."

"Why?"

"Well, when your Uncle Ben was a little boy he was very sick, he had a bug inside him."

"Why?"

"He drank out of puddles that the dog had peed and pooped in."

"Why?"

"He wanted to."

"Me want to."

"You may go in the puddle. You may not put your nose and mouth in the puddle. Do you understand?"

"Stand, Mommy."

"Ok, go play."

Yes, one winter my brother had a parasite. My Mom took him to the doctor because he had been pooping, a lot. The doctor ran a test and said, "Your son has a parasite that comes from drinking dirty water. Has he been drinking dirty water?" My Mom, not knowing the whole story said, "No."

Later my Mom learned that my brother had been dunking snowballs in a puddle down the hill from the dogs run and then sucking out the water. He reasoned, logically, that the snowball acted like a filter. So, therefore, he was not drinking out of a puddle.

Around here we don't eat snow or drink out of puddles.

But stomping in them, rolling in them, and dunking your head in them, that's ok!