Long time...

OK, it’s been quite awhile again, but I thought the time was right to update some of Ethan’s stats on this site. Really what forced me to do it was some of the things Ethan said to me tonight.

First thing’s first, Ethan has an adult tooth coming in behind his existing baby teeth on the bottom of his mouth. Jenny and I don’t really know anything about this, so we took him to the dentist. He has a very loose tooth that is about to be replaced by this much larger one, but it is not out yet, and the new tooth appears to be hindered by another not loose tooth on the other side. Luckily the dentist said everything looks OK. He seemed to be a bit concerned that he was getting these teeth already since his mouth is not big enough to accommodate these new teeth, but at least we’re OK for now. In the mean time, Ethan is very excited to have the tooth fairy just around the corner.

I’m sure I’ve said it before, but putting Ethan to bed is the source of many very interesting conversations. Tonight was no exception. We started out with our prayers, like we normally do, and Ethan surprised me when he recited the Hail Mary almost perfectly. He and I had been working on it for quite some time… Well, I had him repeat after me when I said it, so I was surprised to find out that he knew it. At first I thought he had just learned it from me and was fooling with me in not letting on that he knew it. Then he let it out that they were actually learning it at school. After I found that out, I think he thought I was upset that he didn’t learn it from me, so he changed his tune and told me that he learned it from me. I told him it was OK hat he learns things from his teachers…

Later in our conversation we talked about what his uncles do for a job. He asked first about uncle Rosco (Bryce). I explained that he worked for the Electric company. He asked if he drove a truck or if he fixed things, but I had to explain that he opened envelopes and processed payments. It is a difficult thing to explain to a kid how people, like Bryce, my dad, and myself, can have jobs were we really don’t do anything that they think of as work. Explaining uncle Blaine’s job was much easier, he’s a teacher, and Ethan understands teachers. Most difficult, however, was explaining how uncle Brett didn’t work, he went to school. To Ethan, only kids go to school, and uncle Brett was an adult. After trying unsuccessfully to explain that uncle Brett was not an adult, I changed my tact to explain how you go to college when you are an adult, and that uncle Brett was now going to college.

The last conversation turned to Santa Clause and the presents that Ethan wanted. He explained some toy that I have never heard of, and told me that he’s never seen it before either. The toy is some spaceship with blinking lights or something. He said that he’s never seen one, but I told him that he should still ask Santa and maybe Santa would be able to make one. Ethan told me that Santa couldn’t buy it, so what would he do, make one with magic? I said maybe. He then said, “well what if some other kid gets that one?” I said that Santa would maybe make two, to which he responded, “what if some other kid gets that one?” I thought this was a pretty good step in the understanding of the concept of finity (is that a word?). Ultimately I told him that Santa would never give him that present unless he laid down and went to sleep. Yep, the same tricks that worked with me are working on my son now.