Ethan's March Madness

I am late in posting this but it did happen during the month of March. I was at the store with Ethan and had him in the cart. I gave him a snack in a small container to keep him busy. He decided to launch the whole container out of the cart, looked at me and said "two points!"

Oops!

On Sunday afternoon Ethan felt warm when he woke up from his nap. I couldn't find the thermometer so I just went ahead and gave him a dose of Motrin. Two hours later, he felt very warm so I found the thermometer and discovered that he had 103 degree fever! Since I had just given him medicine two hours before, I called and left a message on the after-hours doctor line. A doctor who was covering for my pediatrician called back. He asked how much Motrin I had given Ethan. I told him that I gave him the highest dose listed on the bottle which was .6. He said that didn't seem like a very high dose so he asked me to find the bottle and tell him what strength it was. When I pulled out the bottle, I discovered that it was not Motrin that I had given Ethan but Mylicon (the gas drops). I always keep fever medicine in the diaper bag so I guess when I pulled it out, I saw the "M" and it registered in my mind as Motrin. Oh boy.

This created a moral dilemma: should I lie and said that I couldn't find the bottle or admit that I had given my child the wrong medication? This really did enter my mind. You will be proud though, I did admit my mistake. I told him I was very embarrassed to have to admit that it wasn't Motrin that I had given him but Mylicon. Either he had a dry doctor's sense of humor or he was treating me like an idiot mother by responding, "that won't do anything to reduce fever." Yes, thanks, I know that but at least he won't have gas! He went on to explain in great detail how to give Ethan Tylenol. I guess he figured he needed to explain everything, including the fact that it should be liquid, to a mother who gave her child gas drops to get rid of fever. Within a half hour his fever was down. Amazing what actually giving fever reducing medication can do!

I will definitely look twice at the medication labels from now on. I am very thankful that it wasn't a more serious error!

Animal Sounds -- Bath Time Quiz

Animal Sounds from Daniel Harris on Vimeo.

Hoarse or Horse?

Ethan is starting to talk so much more now and I love hearing what new words he says and finding out that he understands a whole lot more than he can say.

It is rather tricky though to learn new words that sound alike but mean different things. A few weeks ago Ethan had a cold and he started to lose his voice. Daniel picked him up and said, "Are you a little hoarse, Buddy?" to which Ethan responded, "neigh, neigh."

18 Months Old

Ethan is 18 months old today. I took him for his check up at the pediatrician's office this morning and this is what he discovered that he could do, while waiting for the doctor to come in...

For anyone interested:

Weight = 28 pounds, 10 ounces (85th percentile)

Height = 35 1/2 inches ("greater than the 95th" percentile)

Head circumference = 19 3/4 inches ("greater than the 95th" percentile)

This is not a very exciting post after the huge gap, but maybe it will at least get me started again!

One Year Old

A year ago today we were welcoming Ethan into the world. This little guy has brought an unbelievable amount of joy into our lives. I can't imagine being any more thankful for a life than I am for his.

We recently had some friends who miscarried, and that brought back a lot of memories for me, not only of when we lost our first baby, but also of how Ethan had a pretty difficult road in getting here. We found out Kara was pregnant when we took her to the hospital in Guatemala because she had pneumonia. Then, lots of medications for that, a couple of months of bedrest and lots of days and nights wondering if he would make it.

Ethan, you don't understand how big of a deal your first birthday is, but your Mom and I are celebrating with very thankful hearts. You mean the world to us.

(Thanks to Christy Swaringen for the picture above, and for taking great 1-year pictures of him.)

Long Walks

Sunday through Tuesday of this week I got to take part in my first Transforming Community retreat as part of our church's preparations for our Spiritual Formation Center. It's been great to become a part of this community, and I look forward to the other retreats.

The focus of this retreat was on the role of solitude and silence in the life of a Christian leader. As part of that, we were given five hours on Monday afternoon to be alone with God. I had a somewhat funny experience...

The retreat took place at two retreat houses, located about a 15-minute walk from each other. Our meetings were at one of the houses, and my room was in the other. At the beginning of our time alone, I walked around for a while looking for a good place to spend the afternoon, and after not finding what I was looking for at the building where we had been meeting, I decided to walk back to my room and enjoy the quiet there.

To walk from one place to the other involved following a short trail through some woods, then coming to a road that circled a lake. Once at the road, turning the correct direction would have you at the retreat house in about 10 minutes. Turning the other direction would get you there too, but only after circling the entire lake- about a three mile walk.

I turned the wrong way.

Normally I would have had my GPS in hand and not made such a mistake, but they encouraged us to unplug from technology during the retreat, so I didn't have it with me. I did have a map, but decided not to look at it; I knew I would end up back at my room eventually, and if I took the long way it would give me some needed exercise.

But after I realized I actually was going the long way, I got frustrated. I had been looking forward to a restful, relaxing time of quiet with God. Now, I could certainly still pray, but I had a three mile walk ahead of me that I never really chose. Although the theory of some exercise sounded good, its reality wasn't quite as appealing.

About halfway through the walk (45 minutes later), I decided to quit pouting and make the best of it. The lake was beautiful, it was a great place to walk, and I could still enjoy some solitude on the rest of the walk. It got better from then on, but I didn't do all that good a job of praying and paying attention to God's presence. I got easily distracted by the scenery, walking past other people, and just getting lost in my own thoughts.

Finally I made it back to the retreat house. I was tired and ready to get to my room. As I walked through the parking lot up to our building, I realized something about the experience that gave me gratitude and joy:

Many evenings I'll take Ethan on long walks around our neighborhood. Most times that we go, we walk somewhere around two miles, and I think we both really enjoy it. I need the exercise, and it feels good to do something active after sitting behind my desk most of the day. Ethan may have been fussy in the house, but once we go on the walk, he sits back and takes everything in. I really enjoy watching him while I push his stroller. I like seeing his reactions to other kids playing in the neighborhood or animals that may be outside. He also always spends a good portion of the walk leaning his head over the side of the stroller and watching the pavement go by underneath.

On the occasions that Kara doesn't go with us on the walk, I get a kick out of watching Ethan when we finish and come back to the house. I'll push the stroller into our driveway, then walk around in front of him to open our garage door, and he gets a surprised look on his face, as if to say, "Oh! You were here too!" Obviously, rather than offending me and in any way lessening my enjoyment of our time spent together, I get a good laugh. This little boy really does eat me up and has made my heart very full.

As I got back to the retreat house, I was very grateful for the similarity of my long accidental walk around the lake and my walks with Ethan. I was thankful that my reactions to heading a different way than I had intended, walking past other people, or just watching the trees and scenery go by- and more often than not- even being unaware of God's presence- apparently aren't much of a bother to God.

I'm thankful that fathers and sons can go on walks together, and that relationships can develop on those walks even when the sons are completely oblivious to what's happening.

I look forward to many more walks with Ethan, and more long walks around that lake on future retreats. Eventually as Ethan grows he will know all throughout the walk that I am there with him. Hopefully as I keep taking these walks, I will grow in just the same way.