Mr. Moo, I love you!

Ethan sings Latter-day Prophets to Scott

I just want the record to note that I don't just teach my son the names of BYU football players (see earlier post).

Total prophet names memorized: 15
Total football player names memorized: 5

As long as he can keep the lists separate I'll feel ok about myself.

-DH

Video Blog

Ok this is really old footage but I finally got around to digitizing it. I expect that I'll post again later. This is Scott's first time in the exersaucer.
-DH

DH, posting here for the first time! Welcome!

Ethan loves football. He insists on taking his nerf football to the park every time we go. He also gets into my BYU sports magazines and spends quite a bit of time looking at the pictures and saying intelligent things like, "There's John Beck" (BYU's quarterback) or "Look, he's running the football." I have a strange combination of shame and pride in reporting that my 3 year old can tell you that Bronco Mendenhall is the head coach for BYU football and name the major players on the team.

You can imagine my great delight in finding out that the local cougar club chapter was sponsoring a free brunch with Bronco Mendenhall as the speaker before the 2005 season started. Not only that, the invitation encouraged people to bring kids. For the week leading up to the event I was priming Ethan to have one of those moments. The kind you always want to share with other people (translate people as my dad, a fellow BYU superfan) and have the pictures to prove it. Throughout the week, we had the following interchange.

Dad: Who is coming Saturday?
Ethan: Bronco MENDENHALL!!!
Dad: What are you going to say to him when you see him?
Ethan: I will say to him, 'Go BYU!'
Dad: Great, that is a good thing to say.

So the day finally arrives and I pack up the whole family into the car and head to a stake center near LAX. We arrive early and have to wait around for the Coach to arrive. Ethan decides that it is OK to run around in the meantime. I can see no reason to object since the affair was held in the gym.

Bronco arrived about 10 minutes after us. Suddenly, I lose my nerve. Am I just going scoop up Ethan, run up to Bronco, thrust my kid upon him and snap a picture? Should I try to strike up a conversation with him? What could I say? "Uh, Bronco, how do think we will do this year?" That seems too contrived. I keep trying to come up with ways of snapping a picture of Bronco and Ethan together and not look like an overzealous fan. After about 10 minutes of this type of thinking, I decide that I AM an overzealous fan and I might as well accept it. Besides, other people are lining up to see him, and I might lose my shot.

Ethan and I are about 3 people back in line and there are about 10 minutes remaining before he speaks. Unfortunately for us, the lady in front of me is the mother of a high school football player. She keeps asking what it would take for her son to play for the Cougars. I keep looking at my watch, seeing the minutes count down. It becomes clear to me that this lady is not going anywhere. I give up and console myself with this thought: "He'll be here afterwards."

Tom Holmoe, BYU athletic director, speaks first. Ordinarily, I would be interested, but Ethan is starting to squirm. He wants to run again. I tell him that Bronco is going to speak. He insists he doesn't want to sit. He slips away and starts running. Now, this is not one of those new carpeted gyms with the concrete floors, this is an OLD gym, with hardwood floors that echo loudly. People start looking our way. I chase Ethan and pick him up. "This guy is almost done," I tell him and he settles down. Tom winds up. I think I'm in the clear and we return to our seats.

Bronco gets up. I whisper, "Look Ethan, there's Bronco." Ethan could care less at this point. Bronco starts his slides. Ethans start to fuss. People start looking our way. I get the hint and stand up with Ethan, edging towards the door in back. Ethan continues to squirm and make whiny noises. I whisper in his ear, "If you keep making noise like this, we won't be able to listen to Bronco." Ethan responds at the top of his lungs so that all 50 people in attendance and the coach himself can hear. "I DON'T LIKE BRONCO MENDENHALL!" Sigh! I walk out the door, too embarassed to even consider returning afterwards for a photo.

Fast forward a few months to October. Erin and I got to represent our alumni chapter at the general Alumni Association meeting which takes place on BYU campus during Homecoming week. We met some people that looked vaguely familiar.

Erin: "You look familiar, but I can't place you."
Other couple (smiling): "Yeah, I think we've met before."
Erin thinks...
Erin: "Were you at the Bronco event in Los Angeles?"
Other couple: "Yes. Actually we helped organize it."
Erin: "That must be it. We went, too. Michael is a big BYU football fan. He brought us and our little boy."
Other couple: "Oh yeah, we remember you."
Michael turns red. Very red.

This actually brings me to the next part of the story. I learned two lessons from the Bronco experience. First, never get emotionally invested in a staged "moment" with a two-year-old. Second, never bring said two-year-old to BYU Alumni events.

For our meetings over Homecoming, we made sure that we always had a babysitter. This was complicated, but well worth it. We used Erin's brothers, sisters-in-law, a future sister-in-law, my old roommate, my old roommate's sister, even my brother-in-law's wife's brother's girlfriend (thanks, Genevieve). So Ethan was conveniently out of the way for most of the weekend. Convenient until I was enjoying the alumni dinner at the WILK ballroom, when who do I spot enjoying his meal? None other than LAVELL EDWARDS himself! For the football ignorant, Lavell IS BYU football, the person for whom the stadium was named, and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. This was indeed big. Lavell sat near the back of the ballroom and periodically people would go by his table to shake his hand. Again, I had that how-do-I-act-like-a-groupie-without-looking-like-a-groupie feeling, but I tell myself, "It's for my dad" and wander over to LaVell's table with my digital camera and Erin. I keep thinking that the shot would be so much better with Ethan in it. When I get near Lavell's table, I look down the hall. Lo and behold, I see my old roomate, Dean, bringing back my son from his babysitting shift. I can't believe my good fortune. I call Ethan and he comes running over. This leads to the following exchange:

Me: Hi, Coach Edwards. I just wanted to see if I could get a picture with you and my son. My father is big BYU football fan and if he had a picture of his grandson with you, it would mean a lot to him. OK, I couldn't admit that I really wanted it for myself, but what I said is also true.
Coach Edwards (in a friendly manner): Sure.
Erin (picking up Ethan) : Ethan, do you know who this is?
Ethan shakes his head no.
Erin: It's Coach Edwards. He used to be the BYU football coach.

At this point, Ethan suddenly leans over and gives Lavell a big hug and kisses him on the cheek. Lavell is taken by surprise and get this... HE SMILED. Yes, it was groupie Nirvana. I don't know if Lavell smiled after winning the national championship in '84. But there he was. Not only that... I got the picture to prove it.

Ethan's journal for Thursday, as dictated to Michael

When I was a little boy, I didn't know to play letter games. I just know to be in my crib and cry. And Scott cried when you left and now we have two little boys that swallow seeds.

Today, when I was a little boy I swallowed a seed and choked on it. And Mom said to spit it out but I didn't spit it out and I choked on it. And I leaned my body over and the seed came out. I went aaah aaah ahh.
I also played with toys and I be in my crib when mom left.

Today, I went to the park yesterday. I want to go to the park tomorrow. I would just not be a little boy. I just would be on the ground. I would walk on the ground. At the park I would be in the sand. I would just play on the yellow park and the green park.
Brandon, he came over to play.

Huh. What is this seed story? Michael and I are both confused on that one.

Here comes the sun

Here we are, it's a beautiful Thursday afternoon in sunny southern California. It's so sunny that I am too hot in 3/4 sleeves and jeans. I may have to dig out my capri pants and some short sleeves and start using that razor that hangs out in the shower.

This morning was my last lesson for a while with Liz. I'm recording the first movement of the Mozart Saturday afternoon and I sure hope it's good because I have invested a lot of time and money into preparing for this. Lessons, babysitters, and not to mention my expensive accompanist. Despite the high monetary cost, I feel good. This is a goal I've had for a while and I'm nearing its accomplishment. I'm submitting the recording as part of a teacher training scholarship application AND to get clearance to continue teacher training.

In other news, I finally cleaned out my fridge. It has been on my list (at the bottom!) for months, but it is finally done. The sticky puddle of a substance formerly known as orange juice is now gone from underneath my produce drawers, the shelves are white again, and the whole thing is virtually gleaming. "Fill me," I hear it calling from the kitchen. That's my next project - grocery shopping. Unfortunately, it will have to be postponed because dh just called from school and asked for a ride. He has thrown his back out again. When I spoke with him, he was shuffling across campus, hunched over like an old man. He has done this before. Poor guy. He didn't want to ride the bus for an hour to get home.

Back to the sun. Yesterday I wrote on the whiteboard "Be the sun!" 2 days ago, I remembered a story about a competition between the sun and the wind to remove a man's coat. The wind blew with all of its ferocious might, but the man held his coat tighter around him. When the sun came out, its gentle heat warmed the man and he soon removed his coat. That story reminds me that I want to motivate by gentleness and love, not shouting or threatening or other worse ways. This is Day 2, and it has made such a difference in how I feel about myself and how Ethan responds to me. While I was cleaning out the fridge, Ethan prevented Scott from sticking his finger in the socket and from climbing over the gate, extremely helpful for me. Granted, he still sat on Scott once and hit him on the head with Joseph (from the Fisher Price nativity). But, we are seeing progress.

Learning to control my temper is much more of a challenge than learning to play a violin concerto. Maybe if I think of it this way, it will be easier to deal with setbacks. I spent hours and hours in the last five months practicing, listening to recordings, watching my taped lessons, etc. It will take the same kind of effort to meet this challenge. At this moment, I feel up to the challenge, a little bit like Tracy when she says "I think I can". If she can do it, I can do it, too.

My amazing boy

In Primary yesterday, I wrote the theme for February on the whiteboard: Heavenly Father's plan promises eternal happiness. "Does anyone know what eternal happiness is?" I asked. Ethan (my just-barely-3yo) answered, "It's when you eat the fruit from the tree." It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the tree of life, and I was stunned. He was perfectly right - that is true happiness.

Where did he acquire this knowledge? Last week, Ethan got the Book of Mormon Stories on tape and has listened to them every day at least once all the way through, following along with the pictures. I think it has become his favorite thing to do, even above jumping on the couch.

Tonight for FHE, Michael invited Ethan to give the lesson and tell us where the Book of Mormon came from. Well, Ethan certainly told us. He opened his illustrated Book of Mormon stories and quoted us the first two pages. Verbatim.

I knew he was a smart cookie, but this still amazed me. I wonder what else he knows... I would be interested in hearing from moms and dads out there who have experience raising kids who show early interest and aptitude in reading or other areas.