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Ethan came home with a poster today. From what I can gather the children are chosen to answer a few questions about themselves. The teacher writes the answers on the 2x3 sheet of ruled paper for the class to then work on word and letter recognition. I think. This is the second time Ethan has brought such a sheet home about himself. His first answer had something to do with playing Indiana Jones on the Wii. This time it said: Ethan Nelson likes playing Transformers on the Wii. I hope his teacher isn't using this exercise to establish a pattern of negligence.

The other night, while Randal was out of town, I noticed the house was getting colder and the boiler seemed not to be working. I called our neighbor who happens to be the one who installed the new boiler. He was out but promised to stop by on his way home. I bundled the kids up, sent them to bed and waited. Glen immediately diagnosed the problem--power had been shut off to the boiler. I didn't even know there was a power switch. Who had shut it off? I was the only adult home. It's not like the switch was in plain view or could be accidentally bumped. After a restless night's sleep thinking a serial killer was in the basement toying with me, I took Ethan down to the switch and asked if he had touched it. He said he had. Why? The noisy boiler had interfered with his video game playing in the other room.

There's no denying he loves video games. I don't mind. He follows the rules and doesn't whine when his time is up.

But he likes a lot of other things too. So I'm documenting proof Ethan is not so one-dimensional...

He likes to take hot, hot showers like me. Not woosey warm ones like his dad.

Apparently he loves pineapple, but not tomatoes. I found these post-it notes:
He likes to come home from school and tell me what he has learned. "Do you want to learn about Martin Luther King JR.?" he asked me. His tone was such I think he thought I was learning these things for the very first time. I played along.

He loves to write and receive mail. He calls any kind of mail "e-mail" and he doesn't believe me when I tell him e-mail really comes only by way of computer. I'm waiting for his teacher to explain it. Only then will he accept it as true.

He loves his Transformers calendar. He purchased it himself. He was even more proud of the receipt; showing it to his dad and saying, "I even got a receipt!" I couldn't throw it away for days.

He likes legos. And he likes making me gifts. Sometimes I even get lego gifts.
His likes his sister, and his sister really likes him. Instead of Ethan, she calls him "bwuddo" (brother). For a time she called him her son. I was relieved when she moved on from that one. Now she calls him my personal favorite--"best f-wend". It makes me cry.

In a family prayer, he recently thanked Heavenly Father for not mixing up families. I questioned him afterward to understand his meaning. He said, "if Steven [his friend] got mixed up with our family and I got mixed up in his family then you couldn't be my mom and I couldn't be your boy. So I'm glad Heavenly Father doesn't mix up families." I guess this means he likes us too.

I must stop there for now. He and I are going out for bubble-gum ice cream--something I know he likes better than video games.