Ethan’s name

Reposted blog entry from July 31, 2008

With my husband being gone the for most of this entire pregnancy, we didn't have much time to talk over baby names. Not that it would have mattered, Daniel didn't get his name until after he was born either. Both times we have known the gender since week 16. But even though Ethan was not named until several hours after he was born, his name was not pulled from a hat. He was named on purpose.

Ethan Raj means "Strong King". But the purpose of his name is because of who he is named after. We knew all along that our baby's middle name would be 'Raj' after his father. In the end we also thought it would be fitting that his first name would be Ethan.

You see, in the old testament, Ethan was a Levite assigned to be one of David's music leaders. He is the author of Psalm 89 which declares, "I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations." So we thought it was appropriate that the son of a worship leader would be named after a worship leader in the Bible.

(On a side note, when telling of how wise Solomon was, it is said that "He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan" -that means Ethan was well known for being wise too.)

Click on the image below to see the announcement for Ethan Raj.

Conversations with Ethan

Mom, can you buy me this?
    ~No.

When can you buy it for me?
    ~I'm not buying it for you.

No, when can you buy it for me?
    ~I am not ever buying it for you.

Can you buy it for me the other day?
    ~No!

Then when can you?
    ~No, not ever, no.  Which part are you not getting?

i am wonder woman

I wonder about my life sometimes.

I wonder why I can make restaurant quality Macadamia Nut-crusted Ono but I can't for the life of me make a decent pancake for breakfast.

I wonder why my husband cannot remember to close the cabinets.
Like, ever.

I wonder why my 3 year old son insists on waking up at 4:30am every morning no matter how early or late I put him in bed the night before.

I wonder why my 8 year son old makes random loud annoying alarm noises ALL-THE-TIME.

        Seriously, have you seen this clip from Rio?

       

        No kidding, the 8 year old is worse.

And I wonder if anyone will ever be able to explain to me why my 6 year old daughter is obsessed with toilet paper.  Really?  She will shred it into little tiny pieces all over her room.  She will unroll half the roll (or more), roll it back up and stuff it in her pocket or backpack and carry it around with her.  She will use it for 'blankets' for her stuffed animals.  She wanted to put a ponytail in my hair the other day but instead of using the rubber band that she just took out of my hair, she used toilet paper!  I am grateful that it wasn't used toilet paper.  But still.
It makes me wonder about her.

Here she fashioned it into a head scarf.

Travel Companions

We're in the car less than 5 minutes when I hear it start.

Asha: Please, Ethan!

Ethan: No!

Asha: Ethan, if you don't let me, I won't play with you ever again.

Me: Asha, stop threatening Ethan.

Asha: Okay, Ethan, if you won't let me, I won't let you play with my bunny.

(Trying to distract them I point out the window.)

Me: Asha! Look at the flowers on the trees!

Daniel: Those must be the cherry blossoms.

Me: Yes, aren't they pretty?

Asha: They are pretty - Ethan!! Stop looking out my window! Look out yours!

Ethan: Nuh-uhh!

Asha: Ethan! STOP looking out MY window!

(And then she splays her head, arms and hands out to cover as much of the window as she possibly can in an effort to block his view.)

Ethan: Argg!

Dad: Asha you are not being nice.

Asha: I don't want him to look out my window. Ethan, look out your window!

Dad: Look, gold tires.

Ethan and Asha: Oooh!

Dad: Asha, you don't get to look at them; they're on Ethan's side and you can't look out his window.

Asha: But I WANT to...

(After an intermission the second half of the show starts.)

Asha: Ethan, are you pretending to be asleep or are you pretending to be dead?

(This is a logical question because several times a day he will say to us, 'Pretend I'm dead.' and then he adds 'Blaaaaahhh,' and falls down on the ground with his eyes closed and his tongue out.)

Ethan: I'm not dead.

Asha: Oh. 34, 35, 36, 37...

Ethan: Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm....hmm,hmm,hmm, hmmmmmm.

(He's humming the Star Wars theme song as loud as he can to annoy her.)

Asha: Ethan! Stop! You're messing me up! 38, 39...

Ethan: Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm....hmm,hmm,hmm, hmmmmmm. Heh, heh, heh, heh!

(That last part is a weird, maniacal laugh that he likes to use to taunt his siblings.)

Asha: Ethan!! I can't hear myself count!

Dad: You guys are being so loud I can't hear myself think!

Asha is the first to break the brief silence: Ethan, why are you chewing on your sock? 

------------

I'll leave you with a video that I took last year
during a very LONG red light.

If you listen closely at the end you can hear my husband sigh :)

When It Rains It Pours

As I pulled out the mop yesterday, I did it dreadfully.  I had been sick for over a week and the floors had been neglected accordingly.  It's not the cleaning of the dirty floors that I dreaded though, it was the fact that I knew...as every mother does...that cleaning floors only makes them dirtier.

Washing floors is kinda like washing your car.  It pretty much guarantees that it will soon begin to rain.  After you wash your car, it will rain water from clouds in the sky.  After you wash your floor, it will rain milk, juice, soda, and pretty much anything except water, from various little people living in your house.   This phenomena is proportional too.  The deeper the clean, the stickier the rain.

This was in the back of my mind yesterday as I started cleaning, but I just couldn't stand the fingerprints and marks on the walls any longer so I crossed my fingers and scrubbed them off.  When I tucked the kids in last night and all the floors were still clean, I was tempted to think that maybe I had beaten the system.  But alas, gravity was just laying in wait for a more opportune food item.

I offer this for proof of my theory that cleaning floors only makes them dirtier: This morning Ethan dropped an applesauce cup.  It didn't just splatter across the floor and onto the baseboards, but you guessed it, all across the wall too.

No "I Love You's"!

My youngest child has aquired a very annoying habit of calling me back into his room 5 minutes after I have tucked him in for the night.

Mom!

Yes, Ethan?

Can you spread my blankets?

I already spread them.

Mo-om!

What, Ethan?

Where's my baby jaguar?

He's right next to you...

Oh.

Moooohommmmmmmmm!

Go to sleep, Ethan.

You forgot to give me a kiss!

No, I didn't.  GO to sleeeeep.

The list goes on night after night and he knows he's running out of options
so last night he went for one more that he just knew would work...

MOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!

Ethan!  Be quiet and GO to SLEEP!

Mom, I love you.

No!  Stop calling me and go to sleep!

...No "I love you's"?

NO!

I'm a terrible mother.