"What are these for Daddy?"

"What are these for Daddy?" my four year old, B, asked me waving a box of tampons that my wife had left in the bathroom (thanks Darling).
"They're...err...like plasters," I replied, "for stopping bleeding." B looked at them suspiciously.
"They don't look like my plasters," he said accusingly, "there's no Winnie Pooh." I continued shaving to give myself a moment to think.
"Well, they're special Mommy plasters," I offered hopefully. B considered this like a crown court judge. I half expected him to say "don't bullshit me Daddy" but he is not quite that advanced. Instead he employed simple logic:
"I've never seen Mommy stick these on anywhere".
"Well...(nothing else for it)...do you remember where your baby brother came from? Those plasters stop bleeding there." (Please, please, please, don't ask me to explain menstruation, Son).
"Oh," was all he said losing interest. The he smiled at me, "Can I put some shaving soap on so I look like Santa Claus too?" (Phew)

Strong Love?

Son No2 is two and a half, I'll call him G, and still continues to misbehave to try and get attention. Understanding this helps to prevent overreaction but it still causes me a lot of frustration. Recently, I was trying to get him in his pyjamas and he was playing up to delay me. I was doing a good job at managing the situation calmly until he deliberately kicked me in the eye. It hurt and the result was a hard slap on his bum. It was not lashing out, it was a controlled action, but much harder than intended and he squealed. His mom was there and was cross with me and all love and sympathetic with G.

"Come here and I'll put your jamas on," she cooed.
"No," he said decisively and looking at me, "want Daddy to put them on!" I gestured him to come close and he ran to me and hugged me saying:
"Love you Daddy." This surprised my wife and I. Slapping your
children is always a last resort and, in effect, an admission of failure but it seems to work and ironically seems to strengthen the bond between father and son; at least on this occasion. However, I still feel like I've failed to manage a situation if the solution is a slap and strive to resolve conflicts differently.