Out of the mouths of babes...and Ethan!

Ethan continues to entertain us with his perspective on life. A week ago, the neighborhood elementary school that he will attend in a couple of years had its year end carnival which we've taken him to since he was a baby. This year as in the past couple of years, we went with our 5 year old neighbor Elizabeth who is Ethan's closest friend though they can fight like a brother and sister. They had their faces painted, did a cake walk (Elizabeth won), played on the jumpies, and ended up on the standby monkey bars. Elizabeth fell off, and, over a week later, she is seeing an orthopedic surgeon to determine if the severe break she suffered in the fall will necessitate surgery. At the time, Ethan showed little sympathy and seemed exasperated that her fall might interrupt the carnival. He took my face in his little hands, looked me earnestly in the eyes, and said, "Daddy. Maybe they should just cut off her arm."

Over the course of the past few weeks, we had some close out of town friends visit. Ethan seemed somewhat cool toward the woman of the couple, and when I asked him why after they departed, he replied, "Because she kept calling me 'cute.' I am NOT cute!" When pressed about how he would describe himself that would make him happy, he said, "Well, I am just disgusting."

Today at his gymnastics class at The Little Gym, Ethan informed his mother that Caroli

ne is his first girlfriend. He said she keeps trying to kiss him, and he stressed "on the mouth." He is certain he is going to marry Emily from school but is quite content to have Caroline as "my girlfriend." In his strained whisper he gets when he wants to be confidential, he hissed to his mother that "You need to go her phone number now Mommy."

I'm hopeful that these three examples of Ethan's prowess with girls will not be indicative of his future approach and success in the dating world.

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...

Eye floaters, Strokes, Another ER visit….

It is always something.... I’ve had eye floaters for as long as I can remember. My paternal grandmother had them. My brothers have them too. They’ve always been part of my vision—little drifting specks, threads, and shadows moving across my sight. Over time, you learn to live with them. Sometimes they swirl around, sometimes they settle toward the bottom of your vision, and most of the time you simply ignore them. Floaters are actually tiny clumps inside the eye that cast shadows on the retina. They’re common as we age, especially after fifty, and usually they’re harmless. Doctors will tell you that most people eventually tune them out. But sometimes they change. On Wednesday, while we were driving home from an overnight trip, something felt different. It was my left eye. The floaters suddenly looked darker, heavier, and there were flashes of light along the edge of my vision—almost like a bright crescent moon flickering on and off. At first, I tried to ignore it. After everything ...

Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

Search This Blog