Why is it cute?

Please forgive me for the parent moment I'm about to share, but I need to in order to support my question. Why is it that normally gross or annoying things are magically transformed into being cute when done by your child? For example, the other day Emma was going potty and doing her business, when from the other room Eric and I starting hearing some rather loud grunts. Normally I don't like hearing noises from the bathroom, but from Emma they were so cute! We just started laughing at how hard she must have been working in there. And it isn't just in the bathroom that odd things are cute from kids. Why is this? You know, the messy face after eating sometimes, the messed up crazy hair, any mess really, mismatched clothes, miscellaneous bodily noises (at least when they're little). I don't know if it's because they are small, or because they are your children and you can't help think they're adorable, or both. In the end I don't really care why it is. It's just one of those things I wonder about sometimes.

American Idol

Okay, you might be thinking that it's a bit early for a prediction, but oh well...it's my blog. There are really only 2 contestants that I'm excited about this season. There are a few that are pretty good, but I really only care about these 2. They are Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey. I think they are both great, but I especially love Adam. I think it will come down to these 2 and that Adam will win the whole thing. We'll see if I'm right or wrong. Either way, I hope they both start a career because I want to buy their albums.

The Sound of Silence

This may make me seem even older than I am, but the other night I had the best time. Emma had been in bed for awhile and Eric had just gone to bed. Usually in the evenings at this time I am working around the house doing something at least a little productive, but I decided to do something different this time. I turned off the music, made sure the TV was off, and just sat and knit. I recently started knitting and it's very relaxing. The quiet was wonderful. There was absolutely no noise from anywhere. The dishwasher wasn't on, there was no laundry going, and there weren't even those odd creaks and miscellaneous sounds you hear sometimes. Nothing. Ahhh. It was so nice. The only thing that could have made it better would be sitting in a rocking chair. Now that does make me sound old! It was very therapeutic enjoying the silence. If you haven't done it lately, I highly recommend it.

Suggestions Please

Okay, so here's the situation. The primary class we teach is the CTR 8 class (which has the 7 year olds turning 8). In our class there is a girl who confuses me. She can't read anywhere near as well as the other kids, she can't seem to sit still, and she even seems to have self-esteem issues (or at least is VERY reliant on her mom and family still), can't focus on anything, and always gives the most random & non-related answers to questions. Now, I realize that any and all of these things can just be traits kids have sometimes, but who knows. I haven't been told about anything concerning her that would make me believe there is actually some issue like a learning dissability or something, and maybe this is just her, but it seems like there must be something. And I'm not saying that every issue a child has should be told to her teachers, but if there is something going on with her it would be helpful to know, so we could adapt somehow for her if it would help. For now we just have to try our best to not only reach the other kids, but her as well. And often times classes are varied like this, and the teacher simply needs to do her best.

As far as a possible learning dissability, I don't know if she has one, because she seems to be very similar to her mother. Which leads me to another problem. Her mom teaches another primary class (and often has another daughter team teach with her) that sits right in front of ours while we are in the primary room. This girl is constantly getting up and going and standing next to her mom and hugging her or talking to her etc. I want to have her stay in her seat so she does not disrupt anyone else, and to help her stay reverent. Her mother doesn't seem very concerned with this behavior, and doesn't do anything to help encourage her to come back to her seat. Also, her mom doesn't seem to care if she herself is very quiet or courteous of others. Today she (the mom) was talking to a boy in her class who was sitting right next to her, and in so doing (and for quite awhile) was the loudest person in the room, and made it hard for some other kids to listen to sharing time. Am I just crazy in thinking all of this is not okay? Am I wierd to think that kids should listen and be reverent in primary and that the teachers should help them do this?

My problem is what do I do now? Do I talk to the mom about it and risk offending her (since she clearly doesn't have an issue with a little irreverence)? Do I talk to the primary presidency and ask them for advice? Do I do nothing and try to be okay with all the disruptions? I just don't know. I've served in primary for a long long time, have taught many different classes, been in multiple presidencies, and have never seen anything like this. My discription by no means does this situation justice. I would love any suggestions you may have.

I was talking to my mom today after church and told her all of this. I told her I didn't know whether I should be frustrated with parents now a days who don't seem to be able to teach their kids reverence and respect, or if I should be upset at her and my dad for raising me with such high standards which leads me to expect good behavior from people and their kids. And if people tell me it isn't possible, they're wrong. In Emma's entire life we have only had to take her out of sacrament meeting about 10 times, and most of them occured while she was a baby and didn't yet understand reverence (Admittedly, Emma is a really good kid, perhaps largely due to the measures we have taken, but the point is still made). Kids are smart. They learn really quickly (if the parents are willing to teach them) that if they are reverent in sacrament meeting they will have more fun than being noisy and needing to go out into the hall. It's really easy to teach them this, with or without a bunch of things to occupy them. I know I've talked about this issue before, but it still baffles me. But please, if you have any suggestions or ideas about our primary girl, let me know.