What's that smell? Is it Arabel?

This comes from one of our favourite books for children. It follows a well tried pattern.

"What's that smell? Is it Arabel?" (Arabel is a toddler).

Turn the page.

"No, it's mummy making cakes!"

After several of these the book finishes with "Yes, it IS Arabel! Eeew!"

Well, we have been reliving this story in our house. In the old days, any nasty smell was blamed on me. Then we got Custard the dog, who is capable of making incredibly disgusting smells, so he started getting the blame.

Now we have a new, even more nasty smell that appears in the house. It stings the throat and makes eyes run. It is foul and toxic. It must have taken us a week to work out what it was. It was Number 1 Son.

In recent weeks he has started cooking snacks for himself when he returns from school. Cool, all boys should be able to hold their own in a kitchen, so we have been leaving him to it. Then we found out what he has been eating every day after school. Beans with garlic seasoning. Yes, he has been putting garlic with the world famous fart pill, and now seems to have reached critical mass where he is expelling something that could easily be classed as a Weapon Of Mass Destruction. Even the dog is avoiding him!

He protests that we should be happy that he is eating health food, good for the digestive system and blood. He knows this from Biology classes. Well maybe he should drop one in his next Biology class and see what is teacher has to say about it!

I think we might have to hide the garlic seasoning....

So, mothers with small children, it is not over, it just changes!