Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Cellos are Cool

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . putting on a colorful sweater I bought from a friend at her garage sale before she moved out of state.  I love it, and it makes me think of her.

. . . studying a passage of the Bible I've read and heard about countless times in my life, and having an insight that had never occurred to me before.

And another thing . . .

Anna: Why are you turning on Jon and Steve?

Me: Because cellos are awesome.  [Real answer: Because Todd loves watching their videos, and I wanted to distract him from demolishing Anna's toy arrangement.]

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Vaccines and a Single Blueberry

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . Daniel getting excited that his baby brother walked all the way across the room. 

. . . Anna sampling a blueberry.  I don't know what flavor she was anticipating from it, but the stunned  and dismayed expression on her face clearly showed that she didn't expect what she got.  I laughed out loud, then offered her something else instead, which she gladly accepted.

And another thing . . .

. . . I recently read an article entitled "Immunization Misconceptions" in BYU Magazine.  It used solid, scientific data to address three common concerns about child vaccination.

1) Vaccines do not cause autism.  Only one study has ever linked a single vaccine (the MMR) to autism, and that study was later found to be fraudulent.

2) Multiple vaccines won't overwhelm a baby's immune system.  Babies encounter far more germs in their surroundings than they do through vaccines, and one study found that it would take about 100,000 vaccines administered at once to overtax a child's immune system.

3) Vaccines don't contain toxic mercury.  Many vaccines used to contain a preservative called thimerosal that broke down into ethylmercury, which quickly clears out of the body (as opposed to the more well-known methylmercury, which can build up and become toxic).  The article noted that "because of public concern, thimerosal has been eliminated or reduced to trace amounts in vaccines.  Today, no vaccine for children age 6 and under contains thimerosal except the flu vaccine."

I include all this partly for your information, but also for my own reference.  I've chosen to immunize all of my children because I feel that the benefits outweigh the risks (real or perceived), but occasionally I find someone who has sincere concerns about vaccines.  It's nice to have clear explanations based on solid science to address their concerns.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Dinner Plans and the Desk Resolution

Today's not-so-favorite moments included . . .

. . . having two brilliant dinner plans founder upon the shoals of reality on the very same night.  Things worked out in the end, though.  They always do.

Today's favorite moments included . . .


. . . hearing that Daniel and a few other classmates had encouraged and comforted a boy who was really struggling with a new concept in class.  I don't know whether Daniel initiated the effort or joined in after others started it, but I'm proud of him for trying to help someone who needed it.

. . . hugging my husband.

. . . clearing a little clutter off my desk.  My resolution is to have the whole dang thing tidied and organized by the end of this month.  It's too massive a job to finish in a single day (some of the things in those piles have been there for months or even years), but I find it much easier to tackle if I just commit to working at it 20 minutes a day.  Instead of feeling daunted by the whole task, I feel a sense of accomplishment that I kept my commitment today, and confidence that those 20 minute sessions will add up to a clean desk in a few weeks.  Miracles do happen, and sometimes the miracle is just finding a way to achieve what you thought was impossible (or at least highly improbable).