Five year old wisdom

On the heels of his fifth birthday, Ethan continues to suggest that everyday is "Ethan Day" meaning he "is the boss of this house." We learned our lesson over Christmas when we said that day was "Ethan Day" and he could do whatever he wanted. We quickly realized that setting limits on mood and behavior was appropriate. So, on his birthday which we agreed was an "Ethan Day," we set limits. He reluctantly agreed but insisted that every holiday and all birthdays in our house from now on are "Ethan Days." Or, Ethan Daze as the case may be....

Ethan really wanted "Wii Resort" for his birthday, and that is what he receive from Mom and Dad. He woke up at 4:00 a.m. on his birthday and loudly announced it was his birthday. We convinced him it was the middle of the night so he went back to sleep until 7:00 a.m. when he awoke to his prized present. Later that night as he played a game, something happened, and he turned to look at me with a smirk on his face as he said, "Well now! THAT was unusual."

As he was playing an airplane game on the Wii, he told his mom that he gets sick on airplanes, boats, and balloons. "I get a lot of sicks."

We have also started taking him to the Boise Public Library on Thursday nights for a Pre-Kindergarten Prep Class. Last week, Miss Tammy read a story about "dust bunnies" which intrigued Ethan. When we got home, he asked questions about dust bunnies. Heather actually found on upstairs in an obscure corner and showed him. In a concerned and confused observation, Ethan said, "Mom. I don't see any feet on those dust bunnies."

Comments

The Two Faces of the American Dream

The massive wave of Norwegian immigration to Minnesota from the 1850s through the early 20th century wasn't a casual choice; it was an escape from crushing land scarcity and economic desperation. My ancestors, the Dunhams, arrived in 1851 and built a life in Otter Tail County in Minnesota. My great-great-grandfather, Jens Christian Dunham, didn’t just survive—he thrived. He served in the Minnesota legislature as a Republican from 1888 to 1890 and later became a staunch advocate for President Teddy Roosevelt. He was the literal embodiment of the American Dream: an immigrant who fled poverty to become a lawmaker in his new home. Fast forward a century, and a new wave of immigrants—this time from Somalia—is following that exact same blueprint. Like the Norwegians before them, they fled hardship to build a future in Minnesota, and many have run for office to serve the state that welcomed them. Yet, the political rhetoric surrounding these two groups couldn't be more polarized. Don...

Phantom Blindness and Taking a Break after Strokes

I met with my eye doctor last week about taking some time off from my vision therapy. I have been doing therapy since my stroke almost two and a half years ago. I am tired, and a need a break. My doctor said, “This is completely understandable. Take some time off.” At the appointment, my doctor tested my vision. Because of the strokes, my vision was affected, and I have a problem in my field of vision on the right side. I have a deficit with my right side peripheral vision. However, it is getting better. During the test, I told him that I “sense things on the right side of my peripheral vision.” It seems that I know that something is there, but I cannot really distinguish what it is. He told me that there is a body of thought describing phantom vision or phantom blindness. A Polish researcher, L. Bieganowski, described this phantom blindness this way: “The subject of the paper is the phenomenon of phantom vision. It occurs among the blind (or almost blind...

Greek orthodox and Catholic‘s

Being a history buff, I’ve always understood that the Catholic Church was split in about 1000 A.D. Our Greek tour guide mentioned the differences a little bit yesterday, but she did not capture the full history. Today I saw a small Greek orthodox by the roadside and I’m going to insert about the history. Eastern Orthodox Catholics and Roman Catholics are the result of what is known as the East-West Schism (or Great Schism) of 1054, when medieval Christianity split into two branches. The Byzantine split with Roman Catholicism came about when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as Holy Roman Emperor in 800. From the Byzantine viewpoint, this was a slap to the Eastern Emperor and the Byzantine Empire itself — an empire that had withstood barbarian invasions and upheld the faith for centuries. After Rome fell in 476, Byzantium was the only vestige of the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s crowning made the Byzantine Emperor redundant, and relations between the East and...

Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

Search This Blog