This weekend Everett agreed that it’s time for the toddler potty to go away, and from now on he will use the regular toilet with a child seat cover. High fives all around! We also note that the next day he started wiping his own bottom. So things are looking up around here, and just in time. On Saturday he and Chris were driving to the store to get a toilet seat cover, and for some reason Chris told a short story about the times he had travelled to certain areas in California and came across a group of sea lions. The unexpected part of those experiences is that when you are getting near sea lions, often you first smell them, then hear them and finally see them. And man are they stinky! Everett thought this was a funny story, so he asked to hear it again and again. And as always, Chris started expanding the story and adding embellishments. He added the part about how the sea lions took over the docks at Pier 39 in San Francisco after the earthquake in 1989, and about how when sea lions want to go to the other end of the dock they don’t swim or walk around, they walk over every other sea lion in their path, waking everyone up and causing an incredible commotion. You can see for yourself here:

Everett thought each new version was funnier than the last. By the time we got to the store, this is what the people in cars around us might have seen at stop lights: a father in the front seat telling an animated story and gesturing like a madman; a boy in the back seat who was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Apparently Chris is hilarious in the 4-year old boy demographic. From experience it appears that the key elements for humor in this age group are:

1. An element of surprise in the story.

2. Exaggerated histrionics while story telling. For example, “Those seals were stinky!” has potential. However, “Great GUNGA MUNGA were those seals stinky!!!” gets some serious laughs, and you get extra points if you gesture so wildly that you knock over people sitting nearby.

3. It must be somehow related to poop or bottoms.