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Pope Paul once said:

"Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see."

I really like that.

Food for thought

In the July 9th edition of Time Asia (www.timeasia.com), "Graduation Inflation" (written by Amy Dickenson) talks about how kids in America are always graduating from one thing or another, referring to it as "achievement inflation."

Here's a quote by Peter L. Sheras:

"(while) the idea of celebrating life events can be really useful, we are becoming addicted to celebrating. It's part of the dulling down of our experiences. When you make a big deal of something too often, then when big deals really happen, they seem less significant."

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Also in Time Asia, a study in Pediatrics found that 75% of U.S. boys who find a gun will pick it up, and nearly half of them will pull the trigger. Based on a study of sixty-four boys, ages 8 to 12. Scary, and even scarier when I remember that Bob used to keep two guns back home.

Jonah is fascinated with guns, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Bob used to play "Bang! Bang!" with him when he was just starting to toddle around. If it had ended there, it would have been okay, except that my sister-in-law Lilly, while on a trip to visit us, bought each of the boys a toy gun. Being someone who never has bought a toy gun for a child and has no intention of ever doing so, you can imagine my embarassment when we all went to dinner at a popular restaurant and our two 2-year-old boys were running around "shooting" at each other. This was just days after the shootings at Columbine H.S. in Colorado.

Bob never bought Storme a toy gun, so I was a bit surprised--and perturbed--that he would buy one for Jonah. As I write this, there must be at least a dozen plastic guns in Jonah's toy boxes.

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I learnt something about myself several years ago--that I am way too analytical about the simplest things. Before I do *anything* I have to make a list, think out all the possible angles, and many times get so overwhelmed that I end up never getting anything done or abandon the job altogether.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote to some AP friends about Jayde teething early and asked for some tips on soothing her. Judith suggested a wet washcloth popped in the freezer. Sounds easy enough right?

Well, it took me two weeks to actually get the washcloths in the freezer because first I had to decide which washcloths to use. The little gerber ones that I have in different colors? Or the cheap pink ones from Veterans' Hospital?

Then I had to figure out how to wet them. Should I just run some dirty Taipei tap water over them? No, because she'd be sucking on the towel and everyone knows how dirty the tap water is here. And where do I put them? Fridge or freezer? Bowl or bag?

After two weeks, finally got my act together. I chose 3 gerber washcloths in different colors, rolled them up so they'd be easy for her to grasp and put into her mouth, placed them in large bowl with lid, dampened them with some bottled water, and placed the whole thing in the freezer. Pretty simple, huh?

A day later, today, I was chiding myself for being so anal about the whole thing when I go to retrieve one and find that are frozen rock solid and I can't even pry one out of the bowl.

Just another day in the life of just another mom.

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Didja know? July 2nd is the exact middle of the year. A great time to make new (half-year) resolutions, if you're into that kind of thing. I have an awesome poem somewhere in one of my books that I should post. I read it every year sometime in the summer, when I realize half the year has gone by and I don't have much to show for it, then again at the end of the year, when I realize an entire has gone by and I don't have much to show for it.

Speaking of new years and fresh starts, there are three other times in the year that you can start over with new goals. Chinese New Year (falls in January or February, changes ever year), Ash Wednesday which starts the Lenten Season (six weeks, ending with Easter), and the Advent Season (another six weeks around Christmas time).