Boy Oh Boy, We're having a boy!

Today we went in for the ultrasound to find out that our baby is a boy!  Very exciting.  We were all secretly hoping for a girl to balance the family out, but Lydia is the only one who really took the news hard.  She was very sad.  She doesn't deal well with disappointment.

During the appointment, the radiologist showed us different parts of the body.  Lydia was fascinated.  Tyler looked at the screen and said, "It looks like Zerg."  We all laughed and I tried to explain to the bewildered lady what was so funny.  I said, "The kids like to play a computer game, and Zerg is an alien in the game."  Then Tyler helped explain, "Zerg is really gross."

Keeping Faith Panel

This year I have had two opportunities to formally speak about my religion on Princeton campus, both thanks to Robert George.  First, he interviewed me as part of a six part series called Keeping Faith for the school newspaper, the Princetonian.  Then he invited me to be on a panel to answer questions about my faith.  I don't feel like I answered questions very concisely or brilliantly on the panel, but it is what it is.  I was happy to see a number of colleagues and friends there in the audience.

The Princetonian article can be found here:
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2011/12/08/29603/

The panel video (two hours long) is here:
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/calendar/flash/KeepingFaith.html

Starcraft

The kids are hooked on Starcraft.  With Tyler this isn't a bit surprising.  He latches on to all video games.  But Lydia actually asks to play it more than Tyler asks.  It's been every night so far this week (after we do things like read books, math, piano, etc.).  The sad part is, one of them always ends up crying, even if they promise that they won't when we start.  At least they're taking turns.  Yesterday, Tyler had a chance to win when I was coaching him.  Today they had a nice battle back and forth, but Lydia had more persistence (at some point Tyler is more excited about producing exotic units and buildings rather than sticking with the strategy).

When Lydia gets upset she usually has a valid reason, like complaining that I'm helping Tyler.  Last night she said Larisa was no help at all at assisting her because she doesn't know Zerg.  When Tyler gets upset, it's not a grudge, it's genuine emotional breakdown.  He starts making vicious threats:  "Okay,... next time,... I'm going to attack all your bases."  Or he explains that he's send so many tanks, or something to that effect.

It was actually quite funny last week when Lydia was on a computer with no mouse, which made it practically impossible to keep up.  Tyler, completely on his own, had expanded all over the map.  He attacked Lydia one small wave after another, while she remained quite dormant just trying to stay afloat.  Then we had the idea that she should at least attack one of Tyler's vulnerable bases so she could have a little fun before she looses.  Boy was he upset when she attacked.  "Hey, I wasn't ready," as he tried to fight back tears.  "I wanted to have all of the bases."  "OK,... OK,... I'm going to kill all your guys," spoken as a threat the way you would tell someone that you won't be their friend ever again.  I don't even think he realized at the moment that he could easily follow through with the threat.  Boy was he satisfied.

OCD

Sister Couillens made an apt comment at church on Sunday.  She leaned forward from the row behind us and wispered "OCD."  This was after Nyle repeated saying "ba-ke-ball" for about the 20th time in a row to her daughter in a not-so-quiet voice.  It's on his mind from the moment he wakes to the instant I step in the door from work, and especially during church.