an evening with the camera and my thoughts.

Hank wanted to have his picture made. So gladly, I obliged.

While I was at it, I took some pictures of the progress on Avery's room. Then I took some pictures of Partner who has not gotten his fair share of face time on the blog. (BTW, we are keeping the name Partner. We got used to it, and found that changing it might damage his self confidence.)

I am not terribly concerned about the actual care I will give little Avery. I think I have a pretty good handle on the feeding, bathing, diapering, rocking, sleeping aspects of raising a child. I am more concerned about discipline that comes later. Let me explain. Lately, I have had some "Come to Jesus" moments about being thrown into the parental circuit.

Incident #1: Last week my friend Sheryl, who has three sons, was telling me her role in alerting her oldest son's school of some off campus lunch issues. Apparently, some of the students who were co-oping would "leave for their job" and bring lunch back to the students who had to stay at school all day. I'm thinking, "So What? They leave and come back then leave again." When I should have been thinking about their safety, and the problems it could cause should one of them get in an accident. Uhh. Must start thinking like an adult.

Incident #2: As Mom and I sat in the nail place getting our pedicures yesterday, there were two young women with a very cute/slightly active four year old little boy. He wasn't really misbehaving, considering he had no toys, and was there for at least and hour and a half. He was just bouncing, like little boys do. One of the women started thumping him in the forehead to get him to sit down and be quiet. Ummm, Thumping him? Seriously? What are you teaching him with that? When the other girl was done with her manicure, he went to sit by her. He was still having trouble sitting still, and the other girl told him she was going to "Kick you in the head," if he didn't shut up. Wow, I know I am not a parent yet, but it was a great lesson in what not to do to discipline a 4 year old. (Jane Ann was about to blow a gasket and start parenting classes right in the middle of Nails by Ly.) And, if you were wondering, the kid did not settle down with his "discipline". In fact, if anything, it made him more disobedient. Lesson learned (for me at least).