That cooler will never be the same again

Some terrible storms have been crossing Missouri lately. On Wednesday we had the worst one so far to hit St. Louis. Not too long after Ben woke up from his nap the tornado sirens started blaring. So we grabbed some snacks, the cats and my laptop (for radar monitoring and possible show watching if Ben got bored) and headed downstairs.

Ben almost never gets to go in the basement, so he's always excited when he does. He was having a good time exploring and stalking the cats in a closed environment. After checking the radar and assuring myself we still had a little time before we were all blown away, my mind wandered to other things, mainly what was I going to do if Ben needed the bathroom. My eyes darted around the basement and first landed on the kitty litter box. It would be an appropriate place, but then I imagined him falling in and decided against it. Then I saw the coolers. Specifically the little cooler without wheels that would be a little taller than he's used to, but still an acceptable height. And it was decided.

Eventually he did have to pee, so I explained that we couldn't go upstairs and he had to use the cooler. It worked out great and thanks to our Sam's membership, we had a plethora of Kleenex and toilet paper downstairs. Perfect. We were in the basement for 1.5 hours, so he peed a few times.

Eventually the storm started picking up, so I was paying more attention to the radar than to Ben. And just when it was getting really bad outside (rain, wind, hail), Ben pooped in his pants. The boy has timing, I'll give him that. So I sprinted upstairs to the diaper bag and grabbed an extra pair of underwear. And as the storm raged outside, I was in the basement hoping I wouldn't die with a pair of poopy underwear in my hands.

To make matters worse, when I finally finished that unpleasant task I went to check the radar again and knocked my laptop off its perch. The battery popped out and a piece broke off, so we were left in the dark. Except for my smartphone and my iPod Touch. It was like the 1800's down there!

In the end everything was fine. None of our tree branches even fell down and usually they fall at the slightest breeze. Since I couldn't face the trauma again, Heath cleaned out the cooler. He said it was one of the worst things he'd ever smelled. Yeah, just imagine being there, buddy.