Nominee

I started this blog as a place to write my thoughts on politics. Then it got taken over by my desire to chronicle my kid's lives. But something has been niggling at my brain for a few days and I thought I would get it out there.

For a long time, I've been saying that I could never vote for John McCain. Mostly this was due to his support for the McCain-Feingold assault on free speech (but I don't really mind his being a "Maverick" since I believe in principles over party, it's just that his principles don't line up with mine... at all). For most of that time it was pretty much academic because he was languishing nicely on the bottom of the Republican pile.

Unfortunately, he seems poised to get the nomination (unless the remainder of the Republican voters show some sense). This has gotten me thinking about who I vote for in case of a McCain nomination.

Even though how I vote doesn't impact the outcome much but it important to me, personally. I have to vote my concise. The way I see it, I have three options:

1. Vote for McCain anyway. It's a long time until the election. The Democratic nominee could suggest something so heinous that I have to vote against them. This is pretty much why I voted Bush the second time round (because Kerry was/is that bad). I really don't think this is an option. The only good thing that came out of having a liberal with a Republican affiliation in the white house was his supreme court nominations. Another "Republican" liberal isn't going to be any better. It is just demoralizing to conservatives.

2. Vote third party or abstain. Ideally a good third party candidate comes out (ie not Bloomberg). This would give me something to do with my vote. The only down side to this is that I feel like I would be shirking my responsibilities to help decide the election. I really shouldn't just take a pass.

3. Vote for the Democrat. Sadly, this is actually an option, especially if/when the Democrat nominee starts to tack right during the general election (as to not scare independents). Taking this option feels more like owning up to the situation.

What I finally do depends largely on who the Democratic nominee is. If it is Mrs. Clinton, I probably go option 2 (third party or no vote) because I don't really want to contribute to any perceived "mandates".

If Mr. Obama takes the nomination, I could potentially vote for him. Even though he is a big liberal (and when I saw him talk he said something like "I know Iowan's are fiercely independent but you expect a good job and a college education and blah blah" without noticing the cognitive dissonance involved in being "fiercely independent and yet needing the government to help with every facet of your life), I don't think he has the experience to allow him to do much damage. Basically, I think he will be ineffectual.

It should definitely be an interesting moral quandary. Maybe I'll get lucky and Romney will solve this problem for me.

mwz

Fracture Update

It's been a week since Johann fell down the stairs and fractured his leg.

All week we've been making sure that he didn't walk on it. It was surprisingly easy and, as Arial pointed out, showed that he must have been in a lot of pain if it made him avoid walking. He did get around pretty well by crawling or walking on his knees.

It took a little bit of convincing to get him back on his feet because he had gotten used to not standing but now he is back to using walking as his preferred mode of transport.

He is still afraid of the stairs (which is fine with us for the time being) and periodically points at the stairs and says "Fell down stairs. Hurt leg." Hopefully, he hasn't been psychologically scarred for life. I'm guessing that he will be fine though.

Now, we just have to keep him from climbing and jumping on things for another week while Johann's leg strengthens. That is not going to be easy.

mwz

Fracture

On Monday evening, both kids were hanging out with me in the office as I talked to Mrk on the phone. Johann left to play in the play room. I didn't think anything of it because he has free reign over the house. Arial was up stairs so there was someone up there in case he decided to go up.

Frances was sitting on my lap when I heard the "thump...thump..thuMP.THUMP" of Johann falling down the stairs. Sadly, I recognize the sound as he has fallen down before.

I hung up and raced out to him and he was lying on the landing just starting to cry. After giving him a look over to make sure that picking him up wouldn't hurt him, I picked him up and held him while Arial came down.

After questioning him (which is more of an art than a science) we think that he was at the top of the stairs and a cat ran by him, knocking him off his balance. He kept saying "Up stairs, fall down" but he responded when Arial asked if a kitty ran by him.

Arial held him for a while (because there is no substitute for Mommy). After doing a lay-persons exam for broken bones, I figured I should call Mrk back (since I had left kind of abruptly).

Shortly after calling him, Arial brought Johann up and told me that he was limping. She showed me and sure enough he didn't want to put any weight on his right leg.

We were convinced that he hurt his knee because he kept saying "knee hurt". That resonated with me because I have been having knee problems lately. We decided that he should go to the emergency room.

I took him while Arial stayed back to put Frances to bed.

At the hospital, Johann was very good. He learned that fish take a bath all day long (which he repeated periodically for the rest of the night. He was pretty tired (it was kinda late) so he didn't fuss much. He lay extremely still for the X-rays.

After examining him the resident told me that it wasn't his knee (I was quite relieved) and the X-rays proved him correct. The senior doctor explained that it was a "toddler's fracture". Apparently, it's not all that uncommon for a twisting fracture to occur when tumbling down the stairs.

The X-rays showed a small crack on one side of his shin bone.

The doctor suggested that he didn't need a cast since it was a "stable fracture". But Johann, won't be able to walk on it for a week and shouldn't jump or go down slides for 2 weeks.

Now, Johann is getting frustrated with not being able to walk but the pain keeps him from doing it (I guess that's what it's there for). It just so sad to see him try to stand. We try to stop him when ever he tries.

He has gotten pretty good at walking on his knees and standing without putting weight on it. But you can tell that he wants to be walking and running again.

So now we are taking turns (Arial's turns are longer than mine) holding him or playing with him on the floor. It's going to be a long couple weeks but it should heal with no lasting effects. Hopefully, Johann isn't now afraid of the stairs.

mwz

Mom and Dad

Frances has stopped calling us Mommy and Daddy. She now refers to us as Mom and Dad. She just abruptly changed. It makes me a little sad because I'm guessing that some other kid probably told her that calling us Mommy and Daddy was babyish.

It's very strange though. I didn't really have a problem with calling Arial Mommy when the kids were around because I don't remember calling my own mom that. But I call my mom "Mom". It's going to take some getting used to.

mwz

111

Tonight, Frances and I were playing catch with a plush football. We counted the number of times we each caught the ball.

The first try, we caught 5 in a row before Frances dropped a pass. Then I thought she had lost interest because we couldn't get past 3 for a little while.

Then we caught 49 in a row. We would have kept going but I tossed the ball off center and it bounced off her shoulder.

The next try we caught 111 passes in a row. I was quite proud that Frances both kept catching passes and didn't get tired of the game .

Proud enough to post this.

mwz

Tookie

When Johann wants a cookie, he says "Tookie" or "Want tookie". It's so cute that we usually give him one.

Fortunately, he doesn't ask for tookies very often.

mwz