codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=6,4,7,1112"
standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..."
type="application/x-oleobject">
pluginspage=”http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/”
filename=”http://www.powderpuff.org/content/beachfunchow.wmv”
src=”http://www.powderpuff.org/content/beachfunchow.wmv”
Name=MediaPlayer
ShowControls=1
ShowDisplay=0
ShowStatusBar=1
width=320
height=300>
This is the night a couple of the guys came up to Davis to celebrate our graduation. Ed is talking. Richie is behind the camera. And off camera is Jeff to the right and Dave to the left counting poker chips.
The Beach Fun Chow reference is from our Highschool days. We used to go to school with this chinese guy who would always be wearing a matching outfit. So I said one time, “Dude, you’re like a Barbie. You know how there is Malibu Barbie and Beach Fun Barbie? You’re Beach Fun Chow.”
Ethan had been acting out this past week after he had been so sweet for a week. He’d give me a hug and say “I love you” out of the blue. Then all of a sudden he was trying our patience. Crying, whining and acting out. I knew he was frustrated about something but I didn’t know what it was. He kept on saying “it’s not fair”. I asked him “what’s not fair?” But I guess at his age it’s a little too much to expect him to know why he feels things are unfair. Then I realized something yesterday. I began to assume that Ethan was learning this misbehaviour from his sister, Mikala. Then I began to realize something further when Mikala pouts and does her tantrum we do not scold her or repremand her. We just think it’s funny, hold her and pick her up. But when Ethan tantrums we scold him. Aha! So that’s what was unfair!
Here’s the thing. Ethan and Mikala’s personalities are just completely different. Ethan when he was a baby only cried when it was something important. Mikala cries about everything. She’s a very happy and joyful kid. Just when she doesn’t get her way she throws a tantrum. So I just laugh and smile because she does it all the time. I just think its funny because she’s so over-the-top dramatic. She rolls on the ground, throws her head back and starts screaming. Thinking about it now, I guess that sort of thing is only funny to the parents. We call her “Drama Queen”.
Ethan was so good when it came to not throwing tantrums. He never threw tantrums. When we would say “no” that was it. When we had to go that was it. When he got a little older we could reason with him. “no more candy because it will make your teeth rot” he would say “make your teeth rot?” and that would be the end of it. When we tell Mikala “no” it’s time for her to bring out the dramatics. I realize now, I gotta raise this little girl well or she is just going to wrap some poor guy around her little finger. Poor guy!
Do you know what scares me? Not sharks. Not bears. Not psychos with hockey masks on. Attention all men. The scariest thing in the world you can ever encounter is……..your daughter! You want to talk about intimidation factor? Off the charts. I ask Mikala for a Kiss “no!” I ask mikala for a hug “no!” I ask her for a little suga’ “no!” And then out of no where she will give me a kiss, a hug and some suga’. Is this where girls learn their, let’s say, girlish behavior? I can just imagine 15 years from now “Can you buy me a car, daddy? My sweet sixteen is coming up” “Are you kidding me? That boy has nipple piercings!” Mixed in with moments when I look at my 16 year old daughter and I will see my little baby girl. When the only way I could get a hug and kiss was to steal it from her. Is it too early to reminisce? I look at her and love her so dearly. She’ll be sour and then she’ll be sweet. She’s going to break my heart. I just know it. I tell Jena she has to protect me. Look! Isn’t she the most intimidating thing you’ve ever seen?!
So….we signed up Ethan for a preschool camp. It’s just a week long thing for kids from 8:30-11:30. It was somewhat unnerving because we’ve never left him alone at an unfamiliar place for so long. He’s great when he’s playing with his cousin Hannah and even at church for sunday school. But we got some bad signs when Jena dropped him off. First the staff was not all that friendly. As a person who loves kids, you know immediately who else loves kids. A lukewarm reception at the start. Second, parents cannot stay and watch how the kids are treated and how they interact with the other kids. Absolutely necessary for parents to know what is going on with their kids. Third, I got a “He did great” from the teacher. hmmm… I’d like a little more detail. Fourth, when I picked him up he was off by himself stomping on a bug crawling on the floor. He looked despondent and down at the floor. I didn’t get a happy “hi daddy” or anything. A little strange to me. I looked and saw that all the other kids had paintings. When I asked him where his was. He said he didn’t paint cause he didn’t listen. I didn’t like what might have been going on. He started acting out when he got home. He cried so sadly that Jena ate his unfinished cheese burger. He was acting so strangly we didn’t send him back. Now am I overreacting?
Someone once said “Ethan, you are so needy”. At first I really didn’t think much of it, only that it was an odd thing to say to a child. Then I began to think what she really meant by that comment. Even if Ethan is a sensative child doesn’t it make it that much more important for his parents to be sensative to that?
Picasaweb