Closet Libertarian?

I'm doing a ton of research for some articles I'm writing, and for the first time in my life, I find myself asking "is it constitutional?" rather than "is it a good idea?"  I'm sorry to say, this is a new way of thinking.  I've always believed in limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty, but I never realized how far government had already gone outside of its constitutional limits, and continues to grow. Scary!  I'm no longer a Republican, because they've sold out the aforementioned principles every time Big Government served their purpose (good riddance, Bush!).  The more I study, the more I find myself leaning towards the Constitution and Libertarian platforms.  Lots to think about.

http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom123.htm

 

11/19/08 - Fun With Letters

Eva loves fishing, so I introduced her to a game from Discovery Toys called “AB Seas”.  She uses a magnetic fishing rod to go “fishing” for different sea creatures that have letters on them, and then matches them to the letters on her game board, similar to Bingo.  First player to match all the letters on their board, wins.  Eva gets really excited about it, and plays several game cards at a time (she hates it if her board doesn’t have the letter she fishes out).

Last summer for her birthday, Uncle Tim and Aunt Ayrian sent her a set of wooden word puzzles.  She finds the letters to put in each puzzle, like C-O-W or D-U-C-K. I’ve been sounding out the letters for her as she puts the words together, so now she’s starting to recognize letter sounds and sound them out for herself. 

Can You Hear Me Now?

The weather was crisp and cool this past week, which was a nice break from the rain. I took the girls outside to play in the leaves, crunching them under their feet and throwing them in the air.  David has been working on sealing up any areas of the house where heat can escape, adding insulation and installing ceiling lights, which are a vast improvement over our dingy lamps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda has been fussy, cutting a new tooth, and I’m trying to get over a bad ear infection in my right ear.  My doctor put me on antibiotics, but my eardrum ruptured.  The pressure is gone, but it still feels plugged, and I can barely hear out of it.  Everything sounds tinny, like I’m in a tunnel, and sometimes I hear a high-pitched buzzing that stays for hours.  I’m praying that it heals soon, and no permanent damage is done. 

Reading and Writing

The events of past few months have renewed my interest in education, and its impact on worldview.  The way we see the world has a lot to do with what we are taught (and not taught).  I’m also intrigued by increasing levels of government control of education, despite the fact that the Constitution does not give Federal Government this power.  I’ve been doing a lot of research, and have decided it’s a subject I’d like to start writing about.  So that’s my latest writing project. 

11/13/08 - Tech Savvy

Lately Eva has developed a fascination for the computer.  She loves to use Windows Paint, and can deftly handle the mouse to click on the colors she wants and draw with them.   She has also figured out how to plug in our Fisher Price Easy Link internet launch pad, and get it started.  Her favorite is “coloring” pictures on the Fisher Price website, or watching interactive Elmo clips on the Sesame Street site.  All she has to do to switch sites is to remove the plastic “key” and put in a different one. There’s an automatic ½ hour timer on the program, and it won’t let you exit out without typing in a password, so there’s no way she can get to other sites or into our computer files.  It’s a locked system.  Later on down the road, if she’s still interested, we might get her the web keys for Mickey Mouse, Pooh bear, and Cars. 

Busy Bugs and Puzzles

Eva loves puzzles.  She can do 24-piece puzzles on her own with ease.  Dave recently bought her a 100 piece Curious George puzzle.  She needs help, of course, but if Dave does about half, she can do the other half.  The challenge is trying to finish a puzzle if Amanda is still awake.  Amanda loves to take a piece or two and run away as sister chases her.  I don’t know if it’s because she wants Eva’s attention, or because it’s just fun to get a reaction out of her.  Probably a little of both.  She does it with other toys, too, just to get Eva’s goat.  If Eva corners her, Amanda might try to bite her to keep her from grabbing the toy back.  They’ll wrestle each other onto the ground and start laughing hysterically.  At this point, I don’t see that it’s much different than raising boys.  My little brother used to pull the same sort of stunts.

Eva also likes to play with “Busy Bugs” from Discovery Toys, and she’s getting pretty good at it.  She can sort the bugs by color or by species, and she can match them to the pictures on the cards.  Now we’re working on patterns: red fly, yellow caterpillar, red fly, yellow caterpillar, red fly.  Which one comes next?   At this point she usually knows the species of bug that comes next, but not always the color.  It’s a fun game, and an easy way to introduce basic preschool concepts. 

Trouble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it’s classified as “trouble”, Amanda will find a way to get into it.  Whether it’s emptying a drawer full of folded clothes, dumping cornmeal on the floor, spilling mommy’s chocolate milk, or getting stuck under the bed while chasing after the cat (all of which has happened in the last two days), Amanda seems to have a genius for getting into scrapes.  I know the phrase, “I only looked away for a second” is practically a cliché, but it’s TRUE!  Toddlers wait until you’re distracted, putting away clothes, making lunch, or going to the bathroom, and then they cut loose!  It’s like they have “mommy radar” or something.  “She’ll be gone for exactly 20 seconds – now’s our chance!” 

 

Amanda still doesn’t have much of a vocabulary, but it’s clear she understands a lot more than she can say.  If I say, “Where’s your puppy?”, she’ll run over and get it for me.  If I tell her, “Sit down and eat your dinner”, she walks right over to her little chair and climbs into her seat.   If I say, “Throw this in the trash”, she knows exactly where to take it. 

 

Potty Training

When it comes to #1, Eva has been day potty trained for months.  When we’re out of the house, she’ll use any bathroom so long as we have her padded toddler seat to keep her from “falling in”.   The only accident she had in recent history was when she was sick and fell asleep without switching to training pants.  Even so, she usually wakes up dry. 

 

But when it comes to #2, it’s another story.  Eva parrots Daddy by saying “poopy diapers yucky” and “it’s bad for skin”, but she doesn’t listen to her own mantra. Dave has told her that as soon as she goes poo-poo in the potty, we’ll have a party with cake and ice cream and balloons (and her latest favorite, lollipops), and she acts really excited when we talk about it.  But then she’ll sneak into the bedroom to put on a pair of training pants and do her business.  We’ve tried making her sit on the pot whenever she needs to go, but she only cries and begs to get up.  I really don’t know what her hang-up is, but it’s really frustrating to have her so resistant to clearing this final hurdle. 

Election 2008

Last night we had a few friends over to watch as the election results come in.  We were disappointed, of course, but so grateful to be living in a country where everyone's voice is heard and every vote counted.  Whether we agree or not, we have the freedom to speak our viewpoints freely.  And we know that power will be transferred peacefully between parties - another rare but wonderful fact about America that so many of us take for granted. 

As Christians, we are called to pray for our leaders and respect our government, and we do.  We pray for them. The Presidential Prayer Team offers its congratulations to President-Elect Barak Obama, and urges Americans to lift him up in prayer as he prepares to take office. 

I offer two morsels of wisdom from two great former presidents, and I hope the new president will take them to heart:

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."   -  Abraham Lincoln

 

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have."   - Thomas Jefferson

11/01/08 - Grandmas & Grandpas

With Amanda suffering from a runny nose and Eva getting strange itchy bumps, the girls have been indoors almost all week, apart from the doctor.  There’s been no MOPS, no play date, no community center.  They finally seem to be getting better, so last night I took Eva and Amanda to visit Dave’s building in their Pirate costumes.  The residents really enjoyed it.  Amanda kept toddling over to the table where she could grab some chocolate-covered pretzels, and a couple of “grandmas” gave the girls lollipops and quarters.   

 

Occasionally I’ll take the girls to visit Daddy at work, so they get a chance to meet some of his residents.  Now when he’s gone, Eva will say, “Daddy went to go see Grandmas and Grandpas. Help them feel better.”  When she wants to visit Dave, she’ll say, “I want to see ‘resi-nents’ (residents)!  I like ‘resi-nents!’”  If she’s starting to get impatient for Dave to get home, she’ll tell Amanda, “Guess what?  Daddy’s going to be home soon!  I hear Daddy!”, as if just saying it will make it more likely to happen quickly.   

Cuddle Bug

Amanda is very affectionate, and already shows a budding maternal instinct.  She loves to cuddle with stuffed animals, like her favorite little dog and bear.  Her favorite activity is to push Eva's dolly around in its stroller.  She'll give the doll a hug, pat her on the back as she rocks back and forth, and say "awww", as if already anticipating our reaction to how cute she's being.  (It kind of funny for me to have such "girlie girls", when I was anything but!)  I can see how she wants to be treated herself, reflected in the way that she treats her "baby".  Amanda loves to be held, kissed and cuddled. 

 

She shows a lot of physical affection for family, too.  Amanda loves to wrestle with Eva or give her hugs, and will lean over the edge of Eva's bed to give her big sister a kiss before naps or bedtime (she says "muah!" loudly, as if to make sure the kiss sticks).  If I'm reading a story, Amanda has to sit in my lap.  When I sit down on the floor to play, she crawls in and out of my lap every few minutes, as if she needs to "check in" with home base.  She's my little "velcro baby", stuck on mommy, and needing lots of cuddles. 

Little Climber

Amanda has figured out that she can push chairs around the house to reach what she wants.  Once I found her up on top of the desk, and another time she was perched on a chair, trying to play with water in the kitchen sink.  When she sees Eva washing her hands, she tries to wedge herself onto the step stool so she can do it, too.  Nothing thrills her more than having me lift her up so she can “wash” her hands under the faucet and then dry them on the towel, just like big sister!