Ethan Samuel: what's hot, what's not. 4 months.
Ethan turns 4 months old today. I'm not sure if this feeling ever goes away, probably when kids turn 13... but I still spend time in disbelief just watching him sleep, amazed that this little person came from me. Today, I was just walking past the bed where he was napping, and caught my breath to see those little hands. Wow. So intricate, so precious, so strong. -just like their owner. Anyway, every week Ethan's personality shows more and more. He has very definite likes and dis-likes. Here's the list.
What's hot:
-gumming his belly. pretending to eat his baby chub sends him into gales of infectious laughter
-eating real food. I still haven't started an official 2 oz. of rice cereal a day type of regimen, but I do let him taste things. He really likes Jello, ice cream, and sucking the seeds out of tomatoes (which I then clean up the next day...). We really need to buy a high chair.
-old dogs
-standing up
-pooping in his potty
What's not:
-men on loudspeakers or intercoms (women are okay)
-sneezes (more than once Ethan has started crying because someone else sneezed)
-kitchen appliances, in particular electric beaters and the blender (the stuff of nightmares!)
-puppies
-being in his car seat when he is annoyed about something
-sitting in a wet or dirty diaper. i chalk this up to Elimination Communication success, but it is annoying when he won't go to sleep on the plane b/c just peed and there isn't a good place to change him.
speaking of change...
Mexico is changing me. The average first child is born when his/her mother is 17 years old. I think babies are a blessing. Children are a blessing. One of the huge hurdles to more people becoming Christians is sexual temptation. I have lots of friends who decided to stop going to church when they started sleeping with whoever. Our bodies weren't made to be celibate for 25 years. But with the average marriage age creeping steadily higher, and more people being DINKs (double income no kids), lots of first time moms in the US are 30 or older. I wouldn't say that's bad in any specific case, but as a general trend, it means more tired parents, fewer siblings, and more pressure on each child. If you've waited 30 years to get that kid, you might be more willing to spend anything and everything to give them what they want. Or go to more extreme lengths to protect them- helmets at the park? Anyway, I'm not saying 17 year olds should be having children. But I do think the cultural American trend to make everything later and stay unaccountable as long as possible is unhealthy. As a recent NYT article points out. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/college-students-behaving-badly/
My grandparents got married when she was 20 and he was 25. They just had their 60th wedding anniversary, and they still hold hands. I know this idea is very counter cultural and lots of people will disagree. But Mexico, and Ethan, are changing my outlook on children and life.
What's hot:
-gumming his belly. pretending to eat his baby chub sends him into gales of infectious laughter
-eating real food. I still haven't started an official 2 oz. of rice cereal a day type of regimen, but I do let him taste things. He really likes Jello, ice cream, and sucking the seeds out of tomatoes (which I then clean up the next day...). We really need to buy a high chair.
-old dogs
-standing up
-pooping in his potty
What's not:
-men on loudspeakers or intercoms (women are okay)
-sneezes (more than once Ethan has started crying because someone else sneezed)
-kitchen appliances, in particular electric beaters and the blender (the stuff of nightmares!)
-puppies
-being in his car seat when he is annoyed about something
-sitting in a wet or dirty diaper. i chalk this up to Elimination Communication success, but it is annoying when he won't go to sleep on the plane b/c just peed and there isn't a good place to change him.
speaking of change...
Mexico is changing me. The average first child is born when his/her mother is 17 years old. I think babies are a blessing. Children are a blessing. One of the huge hurdles to more people becoming Christians is sexual temptation. I have lots of friends who decided to stop going to church when they started sleeping with whoever. Our bodies weren't made to be celibate for 25 years. But with the average marriage age creeping steadily higher, and more people being DINKs (double income no kids), lots of first time moms in the US are 30 or older. I wouldn't say that's bad in any specific case, but as a general trend, it means more tired parents, fewer siblings, and more pressure on each child. If you've waited 30 years to get that kid, you might be more willing to spend anything and everything to give them what they want. Or go to more extreme lengths to protect them- helmets at the park? Anyway, I'm not saying 17 year olds should be having children. But I do think the cultural American trend to make everything later and stay unaccountable as long as possible is unhealthy. As a recent NYT article points out. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/college-students-behaving-badly/
My grandparents got married when she was 20 and he was 25. They just had their 60th wedding anniversary, and they still hold hands. I know this idea is very counter cultural and lots of people will disagree. But Mexico, and Ethan, are changing my outlook on children and life.