Wouldn't you like to know?

Driving home from work last night, it suddenly occurred to me what our next child's middle name should be if we have a boy. I ran it by the naming committee (made up of me and Amy) and it passed unanimously. So, now we are fully prepared with first and middle boy and girl names... And we are oh-so-anxious to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl.

Sorry, we're sticking to our tradition of not unveiling the names until the birth...

Just as a reminder, the due date is Sept. 28. Keep us in your prayers. Especially Amy, of course!

Quik wit

Asa on his first day of pre-school

Asa has this ever-increasing fear problem, and it is driving Amy and me NUTS! He's 4, so I know I should cut him some slack... I just feel like he's been pushing his limits. I also get the idea he uses "I'm scared" as an excuse to get out of doing something he doesn't want to do.

This morning I instructed Asa to go pick a different shirt since the one he put on for school had paint all over it. He tried to get out of it saying he was scared to go in his room by himself. Exasperated, Amy said, "Asa! You're becoming scared of everything!" I looked over and saw him sucking his thumb (another habbit I feel he should have grown out of and something we've had many talks about), and I followed up with "I wish you were scared of sucking your thumb." He immediately detected my attempt at being clever, and quipped, "Well I wish you were scared of giving spankings!"

[Sigh]... I guess we all have our wishes... I wish I was better at parenting. I feel somewhat vulnerable revealing these problems my son has (irrational fears, thumb-sucking, and -- did I mention? -- peeing in his pants at all times of the day). I feel like I've heard enough stories and seen enough movies to assert that a 4-and-a-half year old boy with these issues must have a father who abuses him verbally and even physically. But I know that is not the case. So what is the problem? What can I do to help? I know I'm probably wanting him to grow up faster than he should, so I'm trying to be patient and be encouraging and to shower him with praise when he does the "right thing," but every day, I come closer to concluding that we need professional help.

If you've got any advice or encouragement to offer, I'd love to hear from you. Email, call, or even just leave a comment here. Whatever you do, please pray for us!