When the World is Normal Again: Apologetics According to a Five Year Old

It was the day after we came back from the hospital with the twin boys and my five year old boy was ready to test his father's orthodoxy. We were talking about mosquitoes and their feeding habits.

Boy: Does grandma W like mosquitoes?
Dad: No, no one likes mosquitoes. (note: avoid universal statements when talking to the boy)
Boy: What about Jesus?
Dad: Ummm...
Boy: He made them. Doesn't He love them?
Dad: Well...Yes....
Boy: Why did He make mosquitoes that hurt humans?
Dad: Okay. (At this point my befuddlement is giving way to pride. My boy has asked a fundamental question of theology). Originally, mosquitoes didn't harm people. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin and death entered the world and things changed. Then things could hurt humans. One day, God will make the world new like it was. (Or I said something like this).
Boy: Oh. So one day mosquitoes won't hurt humans?
Dad: Right.
Boy: Then the world will be normal?
Dad: Yeah.

Now he likes to ask me about when the world will be normal again. It is good to be reminded of it.


Peace

A couple of recent pictures of Twin B:

Meet Second Born Twin (Twin B)

We had trouble coming up with a name for Twin B. I really wanted to work in the name "Arthur" somehow, but informal polling discovered a strong association with a children's television character, not the first great English king. We didn't reach a final decision for his name until we were at the hospital. He was born breech, but I have already told that story so here he is...

Twin B:
Is the bigger of the two
Can be a bit fussy but calms easily
Sleeps quite a bit
Smiles more than his brother
Has lighter hair than his brother
Has a round face
Laid sprawled out under a heat lamp for the first four hours of his life; he looked very comfortable
Had to be woken up after four hours of sleep last night so he could be fed (they say that scheduling is vital to surviving twins)
Loves his mama
Can soak through a diaper within a couple of hours.


Here he is at the hospital on his second day of life (it has been too busy for much more photography). It is a bit out of focus due to the low light, but he is smiling so I couldn't resist:



Peace

Meet First Born Twin (Twin A)

The twins are beginning to show their two distinct personalities. Twin A, the first born twin, was in line to be Twin B up until about two weeks before delivery when he decided that he just couldn't wait around for his brother to get things started so he pushed his brother aside and became Twin A.

Twin A:
Is the smaller of the two
Can be a bit fussy
Is awake and alert more often than his brother
Has darker hair than his brother
Has a long, thin face
Keeps trying to get his hand in his mouth
Has peed on everyone who has changed him
Likes to pull in his lower lip
Pooped once before I fed him, once during feeding, and once as soon as he was done; he can poop three times in one hour while his brother might do it three times in a day
Has pooped on everyone who has changed him
Causes his father to fall asleep every time he holds him for longer than five minutes
Can make it three hours between feedings

Here he is this afternoon:




Peace

The Twins

Some more pictures. The captions are for the photos below.
Mom and Baby A (6 pounds and 6 ounces):




Baby A gets his first bath; Baby B is under the heater. Baby B was a breach extraction and gave his daddy a bit of a scare. Since this was considered a high risk birth (twins and one breach) there were about 10 people in the room with us (as oppossed to our first two births when we had a nurse, a newborn tech, and a midwife). There were two teams of two newborn techs, three or four nurses, one doctor, and one midwife. Baby A came out quickly and cried quite quickly. Baby B came out quite blue, limp (in the words of a nurse), and quiet, and the Doctor called for a team "quick". Thankfully, momma was in a drug induced haze, couldn't see, and didn't seem concerned. I stayed with momma as they worked on the twins behind me. Within a minute the twins were screaming like crazy and scored 9's on their apgars. It was a good sound (at the time anyway). Ten minutes later we were down to about five people and I knew things would be alright. They took Baby B away from us for a few hours to check his blood sugars and to keep him warmed up, but there was no sense of urgency.




Our round-faced "Baby B" (8 pounds even):




The twins napping happily (this hasn't happened much since). You can see the beginnings of jaundice that has led to several heel pricks but seems to be okay. Baby A has a long thin face, is fussy, very expressive, and doesn't like to be moved much. Baby B slept his first day of life, has nice naps, and is very tolerant. They both love their momma very much.




Baby A getting ready to go home. They had matching outfits. Their momma got them for $.99 each (not only can she really birth some babies--she can shop).




Peace

Home

Today we were driving home from the hospital and my wife said, "We should go to church here on Sunday."

I said, "What? Why?"

Then I looked at the sign.



"Oh, yeah" I said as I remembered why were driving home from the hospital:





We are home. Everyone is doing very well. The details can be found at my brave wife's blog titled, On Considering Incoveniences.

More details to follow.

Peace

Boy on Bridge over Busy Waters

A couple of weeks ago I took my five and half year old boy to a park named Vickery Creek. He asked me if he had ever been there before. Upon finding out that he had not, he optimistically demanded, "You have to tell me all the things I don't know here." His complete faith in my ability to explain the mysteries of the world was reassuring and humbling at the same time.



Tomorrow, I will put my boy on a bus for kindergarten. I won't be there to tell him all the things he doesn't know there. He will survive, and learn, and grow as he crosses this first of many bridges.

Tomorrow, I will take my wife to the hospital for the delivery of two more boys.


Peace

World Trade Center and United 93

Back in April and May I posted about my reactions to United 93. I had three posts on the film (here, here, and here). The big debate in the media concerned whether it was "too soon" for a film about 9/11. I have seen a few articles recently asking the same question about the Oliver Stone film "World Trade Center" (released nationwide this weekend).

In reading back over my previous posts I was reminded that the third post declared, "My own struggle with the question of whether it is too soon for such a movie were put conclusively to rest yesterday when I discussed the movie with some of my classes. I will tell you why in the next exciting edition of TOLN." I don't think I ever did tell you why my struggle with the question was put to rest. Here it is:

9/11 was five years ago. For most of us, it is tragically fresh in our memories, but many were quite young when it happened. When I told my 9th grade students about seeing United 93, one of them quite innocently queried, "Isn't that some kinda movie about a plane crashing?" She was only nine when the attacks came. Other comments similarly revealed an ignorance about the events of that day. So, no, it is not too soon to educate the young and remind the not-so-young about 9/11. Film is a medium that can serve to educate, remind, and enlighten. United 93 met the first of those two goals.

That being said, I am thrilled that the terror plot based in England was broken up. Many lives were saved. Five years ago (pre-9/11) the resources probably would have not been in place to catch the terrorists before the event. Our governments were not properly vigilant. As poorly as some things in the struggle against terror have been handled, it is nice to think that someone is doing his job and protecting us from sudden and viscous death. Timely reminders of 9/11 are a necessary component of vigilance and avoiding the deadly dangers of complacency.


Peace

Monday

Monday's Itinerary:
7:08am Put eldest son on bus for first day of kindergarten
7:09am Try to drive safely to my school for first day of classes
7:12am Explain to police officer that there was something in my eye
8:15-3:15 Teach
Exact time TBA: Drop off kids at grandparents and report to hospital with wife for an labor induction for our twin boys.

Life is about to get real interesting.

Peace

Making Hamburger out of Tofu

As I am a teacher, people often ask me, "What's wrong with education in America? What can we do to fix it?" Okay, so no one has ever asked me that, but it is a question I think about a lot. I am convinced that that is the wrong question to ask.

The American educational establishment has, to its credit, continually experimented, tinkered, tested, gone back to basics, and thrown money at the problems of K-12 education, and the problems have only gotten worse. Americans are concerned about education. The increase in educational spending since World War II has been incredible. Every few years a new panacea is introduced as the cure-all to the educational malaise that infects our nation. We have tried block scheduling, cooperative learning groups, teaching to learning styles, drugs, year-round schooling, online schooling, giving notebook computers to students, teacher training, couches in the classroom, ergonomic design, student-centered learning, and a host of other ideas. None of the these can change the raw material of education: the students. Teachers can have only so much influence on the development of their students' lives. The parents and the society and culture in which students are raised are immeasurably more important to the success or failure of education than the way in which a student is taught.

Imagine a school as a giant intellectual meat-grinder. The meat-grinder is designed to make hamburgers. Put in some lovely, fresh chuck and, after some blood and sweat, out comes eight ounces of ground chuck, ready to be shape for the grill of college or career. Put in a chunk of tofu and no amount of adjustments to the grinder or spices mixed into the tofu will produce a grill ready burger. Either the grinder will have to be replaced by an all new device, or you will have to stop stuffing tofu into the machine and expecting something that won't fall through the grill in messy glops onto the hot coals. Our society and culture is sending tofu to school and expecting schools the school to transform it into a half-pound bacon-cheeseburger with a grilled bun and side of fries.

That being said, I see three significant problems affecting the efficiency of the limited time given to education: the professionalization of high school sports, the hijacking of all aspects of teaching and teacher training by modern psychology and trends in psychological research, and the control of education by at least three levels of government.

I shall expound on these ideas over the course of this school year. Until then, I have to get to pre-planning and try to focus on the start of school on Monday while awaiting the birth of my twin boys on Tuesday.

Peace