Indoctrination

While shopping at Target last week, Ethan decided it was time to sing. I love it! But I started to get embarassed when he chose to sing "Scripture Power" at the top of his lungs. After a few dirty looks, I wanted to shush him. But then I stopped myself. Should I be embarrased? Or should I be proud? I decided I was more proud, so when he asked me to sing along, I did! (Quietly.)

I've become aware of a movement (at least in the section of liberal America we live in) to let your kids make their own decisions. Great! I'm all for it! But for some reason, this movement involves not forcing the decisions that you've made on your children. I am constantly shocked by the people who are not teaching their kids about their religion at a young age. They say they are waiting until they are old enough to decide on a religion for themselves, and teaching them younger would be indoctrination. WHAT??? If it's indoctrination, I'm all for it. I can't imagine anyone learning to make good decisions without a firm moral grounding. One that religion is wonderful at teaching.

As I left Target that day, I realized that I was proud to smile back at the people giving me dirty looks. I am glad that my son already knows that he can gain power from the scriptures, and wants to tell everyone else. At least when I let him make his own choices, he'll know which ones are the good ones.

A Few Changes

Made a few changes to the blog. Still trying to figure out what all these options mean. Tell me what you think.

Good visit to the Dr

Ethan has managed to get even skinnier in the last few weeks. With all the vomiting and the yuck, I'm not suprised. But even the Dr found the change a little shocking. You can see his ribs, his little baby belly is gone, and even with a diaper on he no longer has a butt. Seriously. I had to drop him back down a pant size so that they wouldn't keep falling off.

So, we still had this follow visit scheduled to prove that he could gain weight. HA! I decided to keep it so that I could see where we were starting from now. Suprisingly, he had gained enough before the sickness that he is back to the same weight. Good news. (He is skinnier because he added height.) We will still follow up in another month to actually prove he gains, and will still push protein and some extra fats, but no more stressing about it. Except that I miss his baby fatness.

Can't Stop Giggling

I am taking an online scrapbooking class (my big Christmas present) that is more about sorting so that usable photos and ideas are visible than it is about scrapbooking. So I've been spending most of my evenings with photos spread out all over the living room floor.

I just can't stop bursting out laughing!! Both of our families are hilarious! My favorite pictures this evening are of Hannah at about four years old. Ethan makes the same faces! I'll scan them in and post side-by-side pictures later.

So anyway... sorting through boxes and boxes of photos has been more fun than I expected. My abs were sore last night from laughing.

Why won't he sleep!!

Ethan has decided that he doesn't need naptime or bedtime. They get in the way of playing. He literally screams "I NEED TO PLAY!!!" when we put him down. We've tried just about everything. Finally, last night, we just left him in his room. He played for 2 hours. TWO HOURS! Then he slept in until 9am. Such a weird kid. But I'm a night owl, so maybe he's just becoming more like mom. I don't know. I like the sleeping in thing, but John and I miss our quiet evenings and it takes me hours to stop clenching my teeth after putting him down for a nap. Anyway, he's driving me bonkers! (And not helping my stress level AT ALL.)

Solid!

If you are easily grossed out, STOP READING!

The most exciting thing happened today. Ethan had a solid poop! After nearly a week of nastiness, it was a welcome sight. It means we're done with this. Yipee!

A Variation....

Ethan just started singing "Jesus is coming..to town" instead of Santa. What a cutie!

New Years Resolutions

I'm trying to focus on something other than Ethan for a few minutes. (He's doing marginally better. Check John's blog for more updates.) So here are my New Years Resolutions. Hold me to them.

1. Sing more - I've already started this one by joining a production of "Savior of the World". I didn't actually audition b/c of my work schedule, but I've performed with the music director before and she asked that I join the ensemble to help out the altos. So don't expect much from me the next 3 months. I'll be busy.

2. Stick to a budget - Not just make one. Actually stick to it.

3. Go to bed earlier - It's nearly impossible to get 8hrs of sleep when you go to bed at 1am. So that needs to change.

4. Read more - This one will be the easiest (except when Heroes and Stargate start back up again!)

We're back! But not so good...

We have been back from our vacation in UT for a day or so now. Most of our trip was great. We spent it visiting family and friends, and just relaxing. Nothing is better than that.

But then, Ethan started throwing up. We ended up in the ER for an anti-nausea shot. This was the day before we were scheduled to fly home. So we tried to change our flights. We tried for hours. We talked to many, many different people. We even told them that if they didn't change our flights, we would be taking a very sick and probably very contagious boy onto the plane. They simply didn't care. We ended up flying while Ethan had a fever of 103 and didn't even have enough energy to stay awake. So, we will never be flying United again, and we are telling everyone we know about it. They have the absolute worst customer service in the business.

So now that I've gotten that off my chest, how is Ethan doing now? Well, his fever came down at home. I think just being a home is making it easier for him. But he has switched to explosive diahrea. The one upside is that he is asking to sit on the potty! (We have to look for a silver lining somewhere. This has been miserable.) And it's now Sunday morning. He made it through the night without needing a diaper change, so that's a good sign. And when he woke up he was hungry and thirsty. Not sure if the improvement will last the day, but we are hoping and praying for it. Keep our little guy in your prayers. He really needs them right now.