• First black president
• No more Bush
• No Sarah Palin
• And I’m kinda a liberal, so yeah… I also think it’s great for those reasons too.

The internets are filled with all sorts of reactions.

I loved this article from L.A. Times: World reaction to Obama victory: Elation. So full of hope…

And then there’s humor: Black man given nation’s worse job.

And I saw this on my co-worker’s blog: … all men are created equal.

But of course, there’s the scum of the internet that are bitter and try to make this amazing historical day tainted: Warning, really offensive and just plain idiotic.

I think it’s amazing that I got to witness the first election of a black president. At the same time… it is still a bit sad that it took SO long for it to happen. Again, from my co-worker’s blog: If you think yesterday was not historic….

With such progressive movement… it was sad to see that gay marriage took hits in 3 states, including the famous proposition 8 in California. Jillian said it best today, “Why is it OK for them to even VOTE on this? We don’t vote on the rights Catholics have.” And she’s right… there is no non-religious argument that holds any water to be against gay marriage.

From the wikipedia page on proposition 8: “The campaigns for and against Proposition 8 raised $35.8 million and $37.6 million, respectively.” Yes, that’s right, $35.8 million was spent to deny equal rights in the state of California. :/

A fair question, since the 3L and 100X use this door too. “Yes, I am,” I reply.

Usually that’s the end of such conversations, which happen 2-3 times a week. Then he asks, “Do you know if it’s came yet?”

*crickets*

“First there’s Kindergarten, which is in elementary school. Then there’s Church, Middle School, High School and then College.”

I laughed. “Ummm… Church?”

“Yeah, church,” she replied.

So I asked, “What’s Church?”

“Oh, it’s just one of the schools.”

“Who told you about Church?”

“No one,” she sighed, “I just know about it.” I’m not certain, but I think she rolled her eyes here.

I was confused and had to pause a bit to think it over. “Oh, do you mean Sunday School?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s at Church.”

“Ohhh… Well Sunday School isn’t a normal School. It’s a special School. They only teach you about the Bible and Religion. It’s not part of the School you’re in.”

“What’s the Bible?”

“Uh… a book.” She looked like that was obviously not sufficient. “Umm… You know those songs at Christmas time about baby Jesus?”

“Yeah! The ones the Cowboys sing!” She yelled.

We try to listen to kid friendly and generic Christmas music. But almost always when a Country Christmas song comes on (hence the Cowboys) it mentions baby Jesus. She’s asked us about that before and we tried our best to dodge the question for now. Questions like, “Why is this song on the Christmas station? It’s not Christmas music.”, when “Silent Night” is on.

I laugh. “Yeah. The Bible is all about him.”

“Oh, OK.” She replied and then left to do something else.

*phew*

So now I’m concerned… She’s starting to ask questions that I’m not quite sure how to answer yet. I want my kids to have as much information in front of them as possible, and for them to be old enough to understand the information, before any information is in front of them at all. I know… that’s not possible.

But when is the right age to talk about Religion? Obviously not now, now she still believes us when we tell her about Santa and the Tooth Fairy. So obviously, to me, telling a six year old about Religion would be wrong. So do we wait until she’s old enough to recognize who/what/why Santa really is?

I guess, for now, those are my thoughts. When she’s old enough and wise enough to recognize that Santa isn’t real because we tell her Santa is real, then she’ll be old enough to be told what Religion is. What spirituality is. And at that point I’d want to go all out:

• Many different Religions in the world
• Similarities between them all
• History of Religions from the ancient Religions before Judaism to modern Christianity and beyond to modern creations like Scientology

And yeah, I’d expect it to be overwhelming. But I want my kids to understand, accept, and respect differences in the world. And I want them to make clear educated decisions in all areas of their lives.

I don’t hope that they’ll believe one thing and not another. I hope that they’ll believe what they truly believe, confidently, happily and proudly. It doesn’t matter if it’s different from what I believe, as long as they come to that decision on their own and with sufficient information.

(10:17:54 PM) Ryan Hadley: a lady was stabbed. she’s 36 weeks pregnant
(10:18:05 PM) Ryan Hadley: there’s a horrible thunder storm
(10:18:11 PM) Ryan Hadley: the ambulance got in an accident
(10:18:25 PM) Ryan Hadley: while rescuing the ambulance a power line fell on it
(10:18:32 PM) Ryan Hadley: they can’t get the power turned off
(10:18:41 PM) Ryan Hadley: she started going in to labor
(10:18:50 PM) Ryan Hadley: and bleeding too much, her placenta is detaching
(10:19:08 PM) Ryan Hadley: so now a doctor who doesn’t know what she’s doing has to do an emergency c-section…
(10:19:13 PM) Ryan Hadley: in a crashed ambulance
(10:19:15 PM) Ryan Hadley: on a 36 week pregnant woman with stab wounds
(10:19:27 PM) Ryan Hadley: with broken power cables dangling and sparking all around
(10:19:31 PM) Ryan Hadley: in the pouring rain
(10:19:51 PM) Dejos: dear God, I am so glad ER is in it’s last season
(10:19:57 PM) Dejos: I’m so sick of that bullshit of a show
(10:20:11 PM) Ryan Hadley: she needed help so she had a doctor jump in to the electrified ambulance
(10:20:24 PM) Ryan Hadley: I told Jillian he might as well have jumped over an electrified shark
(10:20:46 PM) Dejos: hahaha
(10:25:19 PM) Ryan Hadley: ok… he just had to tuck the baby under his arm like a football and leap out of the electrified ambulance because they still haven’t gotten the power off
(10:25:26 PM) Ryan Hadley: and now he has to run to the hospital
(10:25:34 PM) Ryan Hadley: I sure hope he doesn’t spike the baby
(10:27:14 PM) Dejos: my favorite episode is where all the power is cut off in the hospital and there’s this hurricane (in new york) and they run upstairs to get to the hellipad and they’re pulling out this dying guy and the one doctor raises his hand and the hellicopter chops it off
(10:27:35 PM) Ryan Hadley: oh yeah, the asshole doctor
(10:27:41 PM) Ryan Hadley: he soooo deserved that
(10:32:27 PM) Dejos: word!
(10:32:53 PM) Ryan Hadley: I think he ends up being finished off by the helicopter later on. It comes back for more blood.

Proof I didn’t make this ridiculous series of events up: Season 8, Episode 8

We rented movies and watched them on laptops. Got air beds from Super Target to sleep on. Dollar store pots, pans, silverware, cups, etc.

Then our stuff doesn’t show up on time. And the trucker driving it outright lies to us about where he is and why he’s horribly late. Then he shows up and sleeps in his cab while other men unload most (we’re still missing at least one box) of our stuff and 4 boxes of someone else’s.

Lesson learned: Do NOT use Pual Arpin Van Lines out of Dayton Ohio EVER.

Such stressful times, but we made it here and now we’ve made it one full year. We’re looking forward to another year.

Normally, when I’m faced with something new, I immerse myself in how-to’s, specs, opinions, and really just about any kind of information I could possibly find on the subject. I’m very obsessive, which actually helps me a lot in my career as a Linux geek. So, I started down this obsessive/must-do-it-right path when Jillian was pregnant with Janelle (our oldest).

Jillian just reminded me today how I was during that pregnancy. I wanted her to cut out all bad foods, stop drinking pop, no caffeine, get extra calories, etc etc etc. I read books, the internet, and papers/pamphlets from her OB. It had to be done right.

But then Janelle was born… And I held her in my arms, she fell asleep on my chest. I knew then this was different, I didn’t need a manual. Something in me flipped on when I held her and *poof*… I had no doubts, no questions. We were going to take her home and we were going to protect her and raise her to be a wonderful and happy person.

And ever since that day I first held her, I have known what to do. But since then I have heard/read about these other parents of newborns who are stressed out and worried over such simple things. Things like:

• How do I get my baby to sleep through the night?
• How long should I let them cry before picking them up?
• Should I spank my kids?
• When should I wean them?
• When should I start solid foods?

And I’m confused… What do you mean how/should/when/why? Don’t you already know? Did I do something wrong or am I missing something?

I also hear friends say things like: “Oh, we read baby wise and are following it. So far it’s going really well, our baby only cries at night for 3 hours.”

3 hours of screaming!? How is that possible!?

We didn’t read any books and we didn’t ask for advice. We did what we thought and felt was right. We trusted our instincts. Instincts that, for me, came out of nowhere the first time I held Janelle. We co-slept with our babies. We held our babies. We soothed our babies. We listened to them and their needs.

For example, how did we get our babies to sleep through the night? We waited until they were ready to sleep through the night. We didn’t collapse from exhaustion. We didn’t die. We lived and we lived quite happily. Total number of hours our babies cried through the night without comfort from one (or maybe both) of us: 0. Usual number of hours our kids sleep without interruption: 8 or 9.

Waking up every 2 hours can be annoying. But that was our baby, who relied on us for everything. And she was crying. We wanted to pick her up and soothe her back to sleep. Not picking her up and soothing her made us feel horrible. So, we followed our instinct. Our minds and hearts were telling us to comfort her… and so that’s what we did.

And it worked. She stopped crying and eventually went back to sleep and we dealt with having interrupted sleep for several months. Now, all 3 of our kids are amazing sleepers. When it’s time for bed, they know. They don’t throw huge fits. They get in their beds and they know that if they need anything in the night, anything at all, that we will be there for them.

And that’s our approach to just about anything parenting related. We do what our instincts tell us to do. You don’t need a book or a manual or a teacher… So far it has worked great for us. Our kids are amazingly happy, smart, loving, behaved, and independent.

Jillian cried when she left them on their first day of school. It was to be one of the longest periods of time she had been away from them. And the first time they weren’t with family. She told them they were safe and would have fun. She told them she’d be back in a couple hours. With no tears or anxiety they hugged her and said goodbye.

I had been thinking about this all a lot lately. Sparked from an uninformed, misguided email of “concern” that I received. Parenting is hard work, but is so rewarding. I wouldn’t change a thing in my life. And I am very proud and thankful for the amazing job Jillian does as a Mom.

So, I had an idea… Teach her how to read Green Eggs and Ham by herself. So I created flash cards of all 50 words in Green Eggs and Ham.

Then… she comes out of her room with a book and shows us that she can read it. All words in it, including “jungle” and “animal”. She had to slow down and sound them out, but she did it perfectly. So now she doesn’t need flash cards for a simple book like Green Eggs and Ham. But hey, maybe someone else will find a use for them.

Yesterday’s Woot was brilliant. Dear American Tax Payer.

How many of the 50 unique words in the story can you come up with in 10 minutes? I got 45 of 50. Had about 6 minutes to think about the last 5 too… could not get them.

Try the quiz out here: Grey Matters Mental Gym: The Green Eggs and Ham Quiz.