Taking the Scenic Route

Cute Zane & Zach doings:

Zach stretches out a slinky and puts a plastic ball in one end, using the slinky as a tube for the ball to travel down and Zane catches it in a funnel held up as a cup.  Before Zach releases the ball, he waits for Zane to say “Ready, Set GOOOOOOO!”  lol.  I don’t know how they came up with this game, but it is just adorable. 

They also have a little game where they dance their hands to a little aimless tune “deet, deet, da deet, deet…..ending with a hand talking going “Oobi”, followed by hysterical laughter by Zane. lol 

Perfect example of Compassionate Conservatives.

Bush wished Clinton a speedy recovery (in hospital soon to have quadruple bypass) and the crowd boos.  Nice.

eta:  Evidently, the Associated Press retracted the statement later in the day.  They gave no reason.  I hope it is because it didn’t happen and not because of other reasons.  I was so shocked that the crowd would do something like that.  I might not like Bush, but I do think his concern for Clinton’s health was genuine and was pretty horrified at the reaction of the crowd, if indeed that was true.  I hope it isn’t true and was just some idiotic reporter trying for a big story.  I think it is pretty crappy when some zealot thinks that the ends justify the means and put out lies that make the other guy look bad….like the Swift Boat Vets and this story being recent examples.  Isn’t there enough stuff that we can disagree on?  Do we really need to make stuff up?

We watched the Passion of the Christ last night.  All I can say is WOW.  That is one powerful film.  It was one of those that was so good that you forgot it was subtitled and you feel like you were hearing it instead of just reading it.  It was a trully brutal film though and would be completely inappropriae for a young viewer.  It was hard enough for an adult viewer…a woman locally actually had a heart attack and died during the movie and I can understand why.  It is pretty overwhelming on the small screen, even with interuptions, and I am almost glad we didn’t have the money to see it on the big screen.  I got the point without being traumatized by it.  (I also had to cover my eyes a few times because it was just too much)  I am hoping it doesn’t give me night mares, but it didn’t last night, so that is good.  I can usually watch movies with that much violence without any problems, but knowing it was real made it really gut wrenching. 

I was crying through much of the movie, but the part where they show Jesus falling while carrying the cross and combine the “present” Mary running towards him with a flashback of Mary running towards him having fallen as a little kid just did me in.  We actually had to stop the film so I could get myself back together to see the rest of the film.  I identified with Mary in this film in a way that really surprised me. 

It was also sort of weird to realize that Zach is 33 years old this year.  As a kid and even young adult I could never grasp how young Jesus died.  How much difference he made in such a short life. 

I know that one of the points of the film is that it is supposed to be overwhelming.  It is supposed to be brutal, because it was brutal.  The depth of pain Jesus went through for us had never been expressed as well in a film.  I think the reason I identifed with Mary so much is because it brought a realism to the film because the brutality is so overwhelming it is almost numbing, but watching her seemed to bring everything back to how real it all was.

I wish they would do a film on this level of research and implementation about the Christmas story.  It would certainly be a lot more family friendly and it would be neat to see. 

I can’t watch the RNC any more.  I tried, in the interest of seeing if they had any intelligent comments, but as I watched, I started feeling physically ill at the inane comments made by the speakers.  Now I feel like I am going to throw up just flipping past the channel.  I always thought people were over-exaggerating when they said things like that, now I realize it is real.  I can’t beleive the visceral reaction I have to those people.  It makes my soul sick and I have to stay away from it.  I can not fathom how they could think the way they do.

I am also a little disturbed at the actions of some of the extremist protesters.  I am all for protesting, and I sure understand the depth of dislike for the party, but I can’t understand spitting on people and acting so violently as some of the protesters.  I guess I am a pacifist in all things.  I competely agree with non-violent protesting, but can’t endorse hurting somebody or destroying property (which often hurts people) to protest.  I am sure some would argue that I am not passionate enough.

Diaper Chronicles: possibly TMI

Today Zane, as usual, didn’t want to wear diapers.  However, we did have a breakthrough…but it is yet to be seen if it is a true begninning.  He started peeing in the floor about 3 feet from the potty chair and I was able to pick him up and aim him into the potty chair.  (the funniest part being picking him up again as the arc lessened near the end of the pee).  I praised him excitedly, prompting Zach to come from his computer to join in the praise.  Later tonight while Zach was making a quick run to the store for food, we had a disaster…poop on the floor.  I “knew” he was pooping in his room..I could just feel it. I went in there to discover 1 log and a few dribbles and poop all over him….yuck!  I hauled him to the bathroom and cleaned him off and then put him on the potty chair when we got out (while I searched for a diaper since I knew he wasn’t done).  He immediatly, upon his butt hitting the seat, started peeing.  Unfortunatly, due to an angle problem, it hit my foot (that I had just cleaned poop off of..grrr).  I immediatly pointed him down and had to switch gears and be excited that he was peeing in the potty.  lol.  that was hard…I was so annoyed at having the poop disaster.

I was pretty excited, but as I was cleaning the poop up, I stepped on a spot that was wet enough to know that he definatly did not use the potty earlier in the evening.  I guess we will see.  I am not going to push it too hard at this point since he doesn’t have the verbal ablity to let me know that he needs to go potty, but I am going to continue to be vigilant and encourage potty use.

eta:  I forgot to mention, when he DOES wear diapers, if he wets them, he takes them off and puts it in the diaper pail in the bathroom.  He normally isn’t allowed in the bathroom alone, so when we heard the door open, we jumped out of our chairs to see what was going on and were met with a little naked guy closing the door all proud of himself.