Visiting Teaching Socks

When some ladies go visiting teaching they may feel like a treat is required. (I am not saying that is a bad thing. I just don't do that. But I love to be on the receiving end. HeeHee.) Some people feel like they need to bring a fridge magnet or a cute handout. In our house, we have to wear certain clothing.  More specifically Emily has to wear a certain clothing. Visiting Teaching Socks. When I announce that we are going visiting teaching the world must stop while she puts on her special socks. If Emily wants to go visiting teaching she will come down the stairs in the morning all dressed and announce "I'm wearing my visiting teaching socks today!" (Hint, Hint. Please can we get out of the house today?) The other crucial part to our visiting teaching routine is - according to Emily - "Mom I am shy when we go visiting teaching." Which translates to "I will cling to your legs and not say a word." As opposed to if we are going just to visit "I will go play and join in the conversations." I am curious about where these "traditions" have stemmed from. I definitely don't do the same thing every time I go visiting teaching. As no root source has been identified, I have decided it's probably nothing more than my little Emily being, well, Emily. Cute.

A Shark Tale

A tale of one small boy's encounter with an even smaller shark.

We have a small rubber stuffed shark. I'm talking like eight inches long and an inch and a half wide. Small. This is where the story begins.

A few weeks ago we were playing in the play room and Ethan kept on pointing at something like he wanted it. After a lot of trial and error I finally figured out it was the shark he was pointing at. And it wasn't because he wanted to play with it. When I went to hand Ethan the shark, he started crying and ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him.  He wasn't just afraid, he was terrified. Fluke? I thought trying to give Ethan the shark again. Nope, apparently not. What could have caused such fear? I questioned the kids when they came home from school and they all denied teasing Ethan with the shark. And I think they answered honestly. Then. Now would be a different story. After Jacob chased Ethan around waving the shark at him, I put the shark up on the bookshelf in the piano room. Out of sight, out of mind. Or so I thought.

A week later Ethan was playing in the piano room under the desk. I thought, "How cute." He was smiling, didn't seem in any distress. Perfect time for a quick shower. After my shower I heard Ethan crying and asked Emily to see if Ethan was stuck somewhere. (He likes to flip the piano bench over and climb inside and routinely gets stuck.) "Nope, he's still sitting under the desk," informs Emily. What? Ethan was indeed still sitting under the desk crying but he was also pointing at the shark. He was too scared to leave.

I feel bad that he is so scared of the toy so occassionally I will bring the shark down to show Ethan its not scary and see if he can become accustomed to the toy. I think its working. His reactions are not so extreme although he still doesn't want anything to do with the shark. Most of the time the shark is on the bookshelf hidden behind pictures, but Ethan will still point and ask "What's that?" whenever we go in the piano room. 

However, as I was putting the garbage back in the garbage can for the nth time, I couldn't help but wonder "What would happen if I put the shark in front of the garbage can cupboard?"

To Infinity and Beyond!

Jacob: "Mom - what number is one bigger than infinity?"

Me: "Infinity is the biggest number. It really isn't possible to have a number bigger than infinity."

Jacob: "Oh, so beyond is bigger than infinity."

Me: "Well..."

Jacob: "That's why AND is between infinity and beyond because they are two separate numbers. It isn't infinity-n-beyond which would be one number. It's infinity AND beyond."

Me: :)) (Can't argue with that one.)

Family Ski Night

Our family (minus Ethan) for the first time this season finally went skiing together. (Rick and the 3 oldest go every Saturday.)  After all Rick bought me skis, boots, and really expensive mittens for Christmas - I had better go night skiing at least once. (I think he really wants me to ski. Well, at least get good enough to ski the bunny or intermediate slopes with Emily. I will "never catch up to Lindsey and Jacob.") By nature I am a very nervous person and don't like to take risks. Especially when I have seen a lot of injuries from a certain said sport in the ER. I told Rick on the way up that I was ready to move off the bunny hill.  I was skiing down the bunny hill feeling pretty good with my skill level (even if Emily was beating me down the hill.) Rick even stopped to give me some pointers as I was now "teachable." Then Rick announced, "You are ready we are all going up the lakeview triple." I was ready! This was going to be great! Then I got on the ski-lift and remembered that I really don't like heights and Rick started to give me pointers. "OK you will do just fine. There are a few pretty steep parts but no big deal just do what I say." Now I was worried. We all got off the ski lift just fine. Lindsey and Jacob zoomed down the hill. Emily snowplowed down the steep parts and was off. Rick got me down the steep parts. I did not fall, but I did not like it one bit. I was getting nervous. It was dark. There weren't many lights. I had never been on the run before. And it was icy. Then Rick turned to me and said "You are on your own. I have to go catch up with Emily." What!!! At this point I seriously freaked out. However I took a deep breath and realized I could either ski down, walk down or take the ride of shame. (I maybe a wimp but there was no way I was going to take the latter option.) I eventually made it down the hill - sitting down once (NOT falling). After a hot chocolate break with the family - we skied the last few runs together down the bunny hill. Actually, I was left in charge of Emily and she thought it was great. I even had to do things to slow myself down so I wouldn't get in front of her. Even though family ski night was essentially mom alone on the mountain for most of the night, Rick was right I could ski an intermediate run. Hooray for mom!