ELEVEN!

Ethan W. Ellsworth

2000

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2009

On July 24th Ethan turned 11! He waited very impatiently as June and then July slowly passed. He was SO happy to finally see his day arrive.

Some bits and pieces about Ethan. . .

Ethan loves soccer, swimming, basketball, camping, reading and playing the piano. I really love that he loves piano- I don't have to remind him to practice. And I don't have to make him stay at the piano for the allotted time. Occasionally I have to tell him to get off the piano to get other things done! This year he'll be in 5th grade- his last year before middle school. I'm not sure if I am ready for that, but he is. He constantly reminds me that "soon" he'll be taller than me (he's now about 5'1") and that since he's over 5' and 100 lbs he's safe sitting in the front seat of the car or van even though he's not 13.

He had a swim meet on the night of his birthday and he won his heat in the 100 IM. It made for a great birthday present. This is a big accomplishment considering when he swam this race for the first time last year he was super ticked about even having to swim it (and lets just say he didn't have a very good race). He pretty much hated it. This year his strokes are better and he is faster and he's loving this race.

butterfly

breast stroke

Poison

Jason was in Fresno for a few days and got home late last night. He was feeling very ill when he got home and hasn't seen much improvement yet. This morning I was telling Ethan to be quiet, Dad is sleeping and not feeling well. I told him I think Jason probably has food poisoning.

Ethan's response, "Wow. Who would want to poison Dad?"

I may have a budding conspiracy theorist on my hands. . .

When the Magic Ends

Nathanael lost his second tooth a week or so ago. He was pretty excited to put it under his pillow. This tooth fairy was feeling pretty good about remembering to bring him some cash since I have been known to forget. . . and for more than one night in a row. It was 9:30 pm and I was getting ready for bed. I checked all the kids and all were looking angelic, enjoying their respective blissful dreamlands. I grabbed the tooth, put money in the bag in exchange for the tooth and took it back to the boys' room, change jingling in the bag. After placing it carefully under Nathanael's pillow I stood up and was suddenly eye to eye with Ethan. His eyes were not sleepy. They were bugging out of his head. It seems he was not fast asleep afterall.

"I knew it was you!" he said.

I was speechless. At 10 he seems pretty old to still believe in these unexplainable events. A tooth disappearing but replaced by money. It seems obvious that an adult is behind this doesn't it? But the strong faith of a child can be powerful. Maybe it's not the best thing to mess with that power, but I prefer not to think of that since my kids have had many a magical morning as a result of it.

I'm glad I was there to witness the moment he gained his knowledge. We talked just a little bit about the tooth fairy. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "So then Santa. . ." I just smiled and then said, "Isn't it fun to be in on the secret?" I could see the ambivalence in his eyes. Like the moment you understand how the trick is done and suddenly the trick is not so cool anymore. Even though you really wanted to know how it's done, when you find out it's so anti climatic. This magical person (and all these childhood made up people, though Santa is clearly the biggest for us) he had hoped was real was just sent up in flames.

But at the same time he gets to be in on a fun secret. That could be fun couldn't it? We talked some more about how people had tried to tell him that Santa isn't real but he had refused to believe. He was a little embarrassed. In the end he did more smiling than frowning and I am glad it happened the way it did.

Today Kate lost a tooth. She left it in a baggie on the kitchen counter. Ethan brought it in while she was saying her prayers. When she was done he said, "The tooth fairy can't bring you money if your tooth isn't under your pillow." I noticed the smile he was trying to hold back and I can see he's really going to enjoy being in on the secret.

Four eyes

Ethan and Kate in their new readers

When we moved here Ethan told me he couldn't see so well at school and wondered if he needed glasses. The school nurse gave him a simple eye exam and said his eyes are just fine. For the most part that was the end of it. When Jason and I had our eye exams this month we decided to get all the kids checked too since they are now on the vision insurance. Kate went first and her exam was going great. The doctor was almost done; just a quick check of the up close stuff. She really struggled and the exam took another twenty minutes. She needs reading glasses and it turns out Ethan does too. We aren't passing our kids good eye genes. Or maybe they don't eat enough carrots? I wonder if Nathanael or Eli have a chance. . .

Clothes- Vanity or Hygiene?

What do you when your ten year old wants to wear the same sweatshirt all day everyday for a week? He believes that, "it's like a coat" so of course you could wear it a lot without it being washed. After all, we don't wash his coat every day, right? I tell him he has enough clothes in his closet that he doesn't need to wear it every day. Or even every other day for that matter. He is incredulous. The other morning I spied a food dribble on it and said, sorry, it's dirty and it shows so pick something else. He was ticked. So, as a mom do I just back off and say, whatever, Be gross! Or do I put my foot down and say if you want to wear it all your waking hours except at school fine, but you will wear clean clothes to school!?

I have opted for the latter, but maybe this is a battle I don't need to fight.

Get out and Vote!

It's rainy and cold and windy and yucky outside today. The kind of day when I want to stay inside and drink hot chocolate. But not today. Today I voted.

In Washington, voting is done by mail. We get our voters pamphlet and ballot in the mail a few weeks before the election and we can mail it back.

This bugged me when we first moved here. I like to drive to the voting location, have my name marked on the voter registration list, stand in a booth and then put my ballot in the box. The act of going somewhere to do this appeals to me. But the advantage of voting by mail is that we got pour over the voter pamphlet for as long as we want and research this or that online as well when we have a question about a candidate's stand. We make our choice without being in a hurry to mark the ballot and get back to whatever is going on in our lives.

My compromise of these two voting methods was to vote this morning in my house and then drive my ballot (and Jason's) to the drop off box. When I got there I saw many people dropping off their ballots too. It warmed my heart to see all these people coming and going; exercising their right to choose their leaders. I was one of them.

I think this moment was more poignant for me because my kids are paying attention to this election. They are eager to learn about the process. They are watching their parents. I was in second grade when Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter. This is the first election I remember. My classroom had a vote complete with ballots and booths and a winner. I voted for Ronald Reagan, but Jimmy Carter won our classroom vote. Ronald Reagan won the election. It was a big deal to vote and take part in the process. Now my kids are in that situation. They know who John McCain and Barack Obama are. We looked in our voter pamphlet and talked about other candidates and races as well (for president, congress, initiatives, etc). At home we talk about the importance of voting. Their classes talk about the election and how it's important to be sure your voice is heard. It's good to be part of this process. It's even better to know it was inspired by God. We feel fortunate to live in this wonderful country.

One day last week when Ethan got home from school he came to me immediately to talk about something he heard that day. He told me that a kid in his class told him that he would never vote for Barack Obama because "Obama believes that it is okay for a woman, if she is pregnant and doesn't want to be, to go to a doctor and the doctor will put poison inside her to kill the baby and then the baby dies and gets sucked out and she doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Isn't that crazy?" His intent was to tell me this outlandish thing that couldn't possibly be true because it is just unbelievable. I looked him in the eye and said, "That is true. It's called abortion and Barack Obama does support it." He was shocked beyond words. His whole body kind of slumped and after a few minutes he said, "I bet that makes Heavenly Father really sad."

Yes, it makes Heavenly Father really sad.

I believe he had a life changing moment. His perspective has changed. The world isn't as nice a place as he thought. Growing up can be a bummer.

Please vote, if you haven't already.

Happy Birthday Ethan

One decade ago our lives changed forever. Ethan was born at 1:47 am on July 24th (Pioneer Day) in Ames, Iowa. His first APGAR was terrible, like 2 or 3 and he didn't breathe for what seemed like a long time. I was pretty out of it after nearly three hours of pushing, but Jason says that the nurses were frantic. The shot of vitamin K was the ticket to finally getting him to cry and then he pinked up nicely. He was 7 lbs 15 oz, 22 inches long with lots of black hair. Now he is 5 feet tall, weighs 90 lbs and, according to him, is FINALLY ten.

Here are ten things about Ethan. . .

1. Ethan is vorascious reader.
2. Ethan loves to exercise (he's making a good walking/running partner for me).
3. Ethan works hard and only complains about it as much as the average ten year old.
4. Ethan loves swim team (even the meets), even though he thought he would hate it.
5. Ethan's favorite sport is basketball.
6. Ethan's favorite food is poppy seed chicken.
7. Ethan's favorite subjects are reading and math.
8. Ethan's favorite place to go is Red Fish Lake (it's on the brain right now).
9. Ethan's favorite color is green and has been since he was old enough to answer the question.
10. Ethan hates cheese with the exception of having it on pizza and a few other special circumstances. (He gets this from my brother, thanks Eric!).


It's been a great ten years Ethan, we love you!

Napoleon?

Quote of the week:

Tania (piano teacher): "Ethan, do you want to be first at the recital?"
Ethan: "Whatever. I don't really care. I just want to show off my skills."

Ok Napoleon!