Whenever my parents took me to the Sears downtown I always had to find the a/c's and oscillating fans. The whole display was so compelling with the metallic blue streamers stretched out in the breeze making a sound like rain... the low, hypnotic hum of the fans with their hypnotic turning back and forth... even how boxy and industrial and un-apologetically plain all the units were was appealing. And the breeze! Those things were alive. What do 'ya know, I think I miss it!

Those were my obsessions, at around age 4. Don't ask me why. I thought they were the coolest things in the world. Fans and clocks still, somewhat, to this day.

Is obssesed by the Hindenburg! (and Zeppelins in general). He found the footage of the Hindenburg accident in youtube and since then he wants to know everything there is to know about Zeppelins and the Hindenburg. Weird, no? Little boys have strange obsessions.

Robert, take your son to Amsterdam, through Schipol airport. The urinals there have a surprise - a fly. It's not real, but drawn in the glaze of the porcelain. Apparently it is in the perfect spot to minimize splashing if (and every guy does it) you make it your target. Google them and you can find pictures online.

@ J T

The waterless ones are becoming more and more common. The new music venues in LA (Nokia Theater etc) have them and claim to be saving millions of gallons of water a year.

Is that the child was Marcel Duchamp.

... who is eleven, spent nearly an hour at Home Depot looking at weed whackers and lawn mowers. It's all about the machinery, and the possibility that HE might be able to drive it. Those riding mowers, with the seats and the steering wheels that look like cars... irresistible.

Out the window when we drive now, he counts sports cars (we drive a boring dented Jeep). Ferrari, Mustang, all sorts. He can tell me how many of each we've seen by the end of a trip to the hardware store.

Thanks.

When I was that age (3 to about 6 years), I was obsessed with air conditioners. This was back when window units were most common. When we went to the department store, I wanted to see the ACs rather than toys. When we were guests in other's homes, I asked to see the air conditioner. The psyche of a child is a mysterious thing.

Wapner at 6

Now I'm curious, did he ever encounter the waterless variety of urinals? Whenever I find those, I'm always intrigued. So far, I've happened across them in 3 very diverse locations, the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in a European airport, and a Thai restaurant about 3 miles from my house.

she was obsessed with water meters. We had to check out all of the water meters where ever we went. She would insist on opening them up on sidewalks in town which always drew many baffled stares. This eventually expanded to all facets of the local water system. We have a great picture of her with a huge smile on her face when the family went on a tour of the local sewer treatment plant. We also have several pictures that she took of some of her favorite water meters and water main valves in the neighborhood.

We never really understood the fixation, but it gave her such joy that we went with it. She eventually evolved an intense interest in ants and other insects, and then settled on cats. Your essay reminded me of that time in her life. Thank you.

A few years ago I went with my stepmother to a meeting she was running in Scotland. The one social activity was a lovely dinner at a castle. The night before all the clients and planners went over to check the place out. They had event space and rooms that could be rented out. We got a wonderful grand tour. In the first couple of guest rooms the guide showed us the bathrooms. She grew bored about the 3rd room, but the group of all women checked out every bathroom in all 24 guest rooms - they were all different and each wonderful in it's own way :)

Not as bad, but he had to check out the heads, too.

The killer was the restaurant in Bulgaria that shared a bathroom with the nearby tiny nightclub. The place was painted in Van Gogh blue and swirly stars. The urinal was oddly shaped and remarkably like a sink -- at just the right height for him.

My daughter was the opposite. At the same age (3ish) she would no way, no how, sit down on a public toilet. To avoid a bloody screaming fit, we had to carry her porta-potty in the trunk of the car when we wanted to go out. It's not that she was shy. She also delighted, as she sat there on her little throne in the truck of the car parked by the side of the road outside of a restaurant, to regale passers by with the information: "Hey look! I'm going poop in the car!"

BTW, she grew up to be a poet.

Thanks.